Team Herald
MARGAO: People of Raia are up in arms against the Margao Municipal Council’s decision to demarcate the property acquired by the civic body in the village despite the area being classified as a forest by a Forest Department appointed committee.
MMC had acquired around 30,000 square metres in Survey No 196 in Raia, opposite the Sonsoddo garbage dumping site. MMC workers were seen visiting the site and cleaning it.
Former Sarpanch of Raia Xavier Fernandes referring to the documents obtained from the Forest Department said the F X Araujo committee had identified the entire Survey No 196 in Raia admeasuring around 3.25 lakh square metres as private forest.
“Even if the MMC has acquired the land, at the most from a private forest it would turn to government forest but its character of being a forest does not change,” said Xavier, who had earlier stopped the MMC workers from carrying on with the activity.
Today, once again the MMC workers were at the site clearing some trees and according to Xavier, trees were also cut.
Municipal officials present said they were only demarcating their boundary as some stones could not be found. In fact MMC’s former surveyor Pedro Marcus Coelho, who was involved in the land acquisition, was called today to help demarcate the boundary.
Apparently, the MMC has sought Forest Department’s permission to demarcate its area but under the guise of demarcating the boundary, Xavier alleged that the MMC was clearing the land and even cutting trees in violation of the land laws.
MMC Chief Officer Johnson Fernandes clarified that they are only demarcating their land and argued that they have a right to do so as they are the land owners. “As of now there are no such plans,” he said when asked whether a power sub-station is proposed to be set up there.
