Team Herald
PANJIM: The Save Bondvol Lake Committee of Calapur has decided to approach the High Court of Bombay at Goa to save the water body from encroachers by filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
The committee members said that as per a Supreme Court of India order, public utility projects or resources cannot go into the hands of individuals.
“We are not going into the legality and ownership of the lake but we want to save the lake as a water resource,” Arthur D’Souza, one of the committee members said.
He said that some unknown persons have obstructed entry to the lake and hence a complaint has been lodged at the Police Station.
Agassaim Police have already registered an FIR against the owner of the property bearing survey number 131/1 for illegal hill cutting of slopping land to carry out development of the access road in the same survey number.
The formal complaint was filed by F G Agnelo, a Planning Assistant of Town and Country Planning department. In a complaint, Agnelo said that the owner of survey number 131/1 has carried out hill cutting at different places without obtaining permission from the competent authority. Police have registered the FIR under Section 17-A of TCP Act.
The Bondvol lake property is currently in dispute between Calapur Comunidade and a tenant who claims ownership of the lake. The matter is being heard in the court.
The lake falls in two separate survey numbers and one tenant has claimed he has right under the Tenancy Act over the property.
However, the villagers of Calapur and St Cruz are fighting to save the water body which was once a major source of water for the villagers and farmers.
