MARGAO: The process of officially declaring Curtorim as a Biodiversity Heritage Site has taken a significant step forward after site inspections were conducted on Wednesday. This development comes after a decision was made to include previously overlooked sites in the final map.
A group of Curtorim citizens, including members of the Biodiversity Management Committee of the village panchayat, urged the Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB) to expedite the process and declare Curtorim as a Biodiversity Heritage Site. The site inspections involved representatives from the Biodiversity Heritage Site committee, the village panchayat body, the Curtorim Biodiversity Management Committee, and surveyors from the survey department, with Sarpanch Alexinho D’Silva leading the effort.
The process of finalising and declaring Curtorim as a Biodiversity Heritage Site had faced delays, including objections from a group of citizens. Recently, the village panchayat of Curtorim resolved to assign survey numbers to the lakes and requested the GSBB and other relevant authorities to participate in inspections of missing areas.
On Wednesday, inspections were conducted at Angddi lake and Sonben lake in Maina-Curtorim, leading to the decision to include the missing sites in the final map. J Santano Rodrigues, Chairman of the Curtorim Biodiversity Committee, urged the GSBB to expedite the process and declare Curtorim as a Biodiversity Heritage Site at the earliest.
Panchayat Secretary Allaudin Maniyar stated that the panchayat would prepare a report on the site inspections conducted on Wednesday, which would be sent to GSBB for the final draft notification for declaring Curtorim a Biodiversity Heritage site.
Past hearings of the grievances committee had already agreed to include springs and khazan lands that were initially excluded from the draft notification.
