Team herald
PORVORIM: Angry farmers created a ruckus at the Salvador do Mundo gram sahba over water entering their fields as bundhs were breached at Salai. They stated that the breaching of the Charmaas bundhs was now a regular feature and that nothing had been done despite a visit by the local MLA Rohan Khaunte and government authorities.
They added that they cultivated their fields with great difficulty, but their crops were destroyed due to the saline water entering the field. They expressed their anger at the inaction of the panchayat, and also sought to know whether the auction of the ‘manas’ had taken place.
Deputy Sarpanch Reena Fernandes stated that the breaching of the bundhs and the auction of the manas did not come under the panchayat’s purview. Still, the panchayat had taken stock of the problems and requested the government to compensate farmers for the losses they had suffered.
Private forests were also discussed at the gram sabha. Reena informed that the panchayat had received a letter from the forest department stating that as per the directives of the Supreme Court, the central government had imposed a ban on civil constructions in private forest land. The government had identified several areas in Salvador do Mundo as private forests, and if the panchayat received any application for construction activity in any of the survey numbers notified by the government, the panchayat would forward that application to the forest department for clearance.
The chairperson of the Village Committee for Private Forests Meenakshi Martins stated that there were houses, small industries and pathways in some of the survey numbers notified and appealed to the villagers to raise their objections. The committee will discuss the issue with Environment Minister Alina Saldhana on August 11.
