Mandrem: Where the creek is a sewage dump & coconut trees are acrushed by ‘development’
AUGUSTO RODRIGUES
ASHVEM, MANDREM: Construction activities in survey No 263/18 of Ashvem wada in Mandrem village have come to a standstill after the restraining orders of the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court. The High Court, on Tuesday, in response to a petition filed by the Goa Foundation, had restrained Savio D’Souza of Ashvem, Mandrem and his contractors from carrying out any further construction activities of a wooden jetty and a concrete shed for storage of water sports equipment in Survey No. 263/18 of Mandrem Village, Pernem, which is located near the turtle nesting site.
“If one checks structures built along the creek, a lot more will spill out. Half of the marine life has disappeared because the creek is used as a sewage dump. With no place for soak pits, the sewage is released into the creek and it is the tides that keep the stink away,” opens up a local after hours of coaxing.
The news of the High Court's directions surprised the villagers because few expected any action after their complaints had fallen on deaf ears in the past.
“Simeon, the father of Savio D’Souza used to sell pork meat in the village and pluck coconuts. His five sons began developing their tenanted land and are associated with people from Delhi. We don’t interfere with them after their father’s demise,” alleges a lady.
“In the olden days, the road was lined with coconut trees that provided us shade to walk under during the day. In the name of expanding the road, they cut all the coconut trees and with that, our shade has gone and so our evening walks,” she complains.
The wooden jetty to be constructed is behind the residences of the D’souza and at the site of the mangroves. There exists a wooden bridge that connects Survey No 263/18 through the creek to a property with sign boards of Private Property all along.
“You are not allowed to enter,” says a security guard on crossing the wooden bridge. “This is private property and belongs to Sequeira’s,” he claims without being able to display any documentation. The private property, part of a dune, opens into Ashvem beach.
On this huge private property, there are three concrete structures with signs of habitation, two wells and coconut trees.
The land on the dunes belongs to a family partly settled in the UK. They sell their villas directly from abroad,” informs Philomeno, as he mumbles that the mess that is being created for the greed of a quick buck.
“There are two old jetties along the creek that are not in use and I wonder the need to build another. Water sports activities are held on the beach and one wonders the reason to have a special jetty, without permissions, in the creek,” wonders another local who believes the image of the ward started getting tarnished after a Russian was caught with a big quantity of drugs last year.
“An Indian national has built a residence right on the beach, touching our chapel and all have looked the other way. The septic from the house is released into the creek, like that of others,” says a dejected local.
The restraining order of the High Court on Public Interest Litigation (PIL) Writ petition No 2670 0f 2024 has also brought into focus how tenanted property is being sold and being converted from agricultural to commercial.
Form I & XIV of survey No 263/18 indicates that the occupant of the land is one Deshprabhu and that the agricultural land is tenanted. Section 3 of the Goa Restriction of Transfer of Agricultural Land Act, 2023 states that “no person who owns or has agricultural land shall transfer such agricultural land by way of sale, gift, exchange; lease etc. for non-agricultural purposes.”
With the restraining order of the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court in force, the area where the jetty was purported to be built has been covered up, though the wooden logs can be seen on the earmarked land.
What the locals will closely watch is whether this temporary halt to the damage to their fragile ecosystem will indeed be a permanent relief. Not many think so. But the good fight being fought by Goa Foundation, the NGO that has moved court against this construction is being fought.