MERCES, SEPT 21
Mangroves are destroyed, khazan land and other low-lying areas are filled, illegal activities continue to go on unabated in Merces VP jurisdiction and that too despite the fact that the panchayat authorities have already served notices to the offenders.
This only goes to show that the offenders are least bothered about the notices, and helpless panchayat authorities now allege the strong backing of politicians behind mushrooming of illegal activities in the village.
The allegations were levelled when representatives of NGOs visited the panchayat to formally bring to the notice of the authorities about unabated land filling activities going on in the village.
The NGOs included Village Groups of Goa represented by John Philip Pereira, Heritage Action Group represented by Prajal Sakhardande and Goenchea Xetkarancho Ekvott represented by Bismarck D’Souza.
The NGOs brought to the notice of the panchayat that such illegal activities would prove detrimental, not only for Merces but also for Panjim city as filling of low-lying areas would result in flooding of both these places, in the future, and urged the panchayat to initiate action to save mangroves and khazan land from destruction.
The NGOs also highlighted how mangroves are being systematically destroyed to make way for shanties and warned that if immediate action is not taken, these areas would resemble slums like those in Mumbai.
However, the NGOs were in for a surprise when panchayat authorities themselves expressed helplessness and divulged that despite serving notices to those indulging in illegal activities and informing the higher authorities to take action, it has not yielded any result.
In fact, Panch Girish Uskaikar informed that such illegal activities are being conducted in collusion with politicians, which ultimately allows the offenders to undermine the powers of the panchayat.
When questioned whether the panchayat itself does not have powers to immediately stop the illegal activities, Girish said to do so they have to follow a lengthy process, but informed that the most they can do is to inform authorities like the police or the TCP, which they have already done.
When contacted, Sarpanch Deepika Shirgaonkar was not forthcoming with the satisfactory replies and asked Deputy Sarpanch Yatin Palekar to reply to the queries of Herald.
When questioned, Palekar reiterated that the offenders undertaking illegal activities in the village are bolstered by the fact that politicians have thrown their weight behind them and this allows the offenders to take the panchayat for granted.
Outlining the idea behind the illegal land filling of khazan land, John Pereira of Village Groups of Goa said that this is being done to show that it is not a mangrove area, which will ultimately help them in converting the land.
“It is a prime land since it is very close to the highway and has high commercial value,” he said and suspected that the comunidade committee is hand in gloves with the politicians to grab the land.
Pereira further said they would request the managing committee of the comunidade to act on the illegalities, failing which they would ask the Administrator of Comunidade – central zone to initiate action against the committee.
