The coastal villages of Morjim and Mandrem are in the spot due to the vast number of illegal commercial establishments in operation in the two villages. With most of these establishments operating along the coast and violating the 200 metre high tide line CRZ Act, the government has failed to take note and enforce any action. Villagers are distraught as their complaints fall on deaf ears. Besides, most of these establishments, run by outsiders are doing so because of bogus NOCs obtained from the village panchayat which gives them permission to open their business. With these NOCs, the business owner can apply for an electricity and water connection. (See the lead report for details) What adds to the issues is the fact that this is the constituency of the Chief Minister, Laxmikant Parsekar who, in the past has addressed the issue but has failed to act on it.
Herald lists out the issues plaguing the villages.
Foreigners operating businesses
Locals are not happy with the involvement of foreigners, especially Russians in various businesses on the coast. Once upon a time, it was the Russians who would frequent the village and enjoy the hospitality of the locals, who in turn would earn their bread and butter during the tourist season.
However, the scenario now is quite different. The Russians have settled down in the village and are killing the business of the locals as they have taken over almost all tourism related business ventures in Morjim and Mandrem. “They are renting out houses, scooters, operating cafes, hotels, restaurants and have even started a parallel taxi business which was later forced stopped by locals,” said Srikant Shetgaonkar, a local.
“This season has seen a massive dip in the number of tourists visiting Goa. The Russians have also not turned up in massive numbers and hence there has been a measure of control in the villages,” informed Vasant Shetgaonkar.
Most of these foreigners operate hotels, shacks and are in the baking business. Last year, they expanded to the taxi business as well. For locals, the taxi business during the tourist season is of prime importance and is the main source of their livelihoods for the year.
The panchayat, last year was forced to take a decision to revoke the licenses of at least eight establishments which were sub-leased to foreigners by the locals. The panchayat even rain a campaign against hoardings and signages in Russian, but till today, they continue to exist.
Most of the gram sabhas were rocked over the issues of Russians and parties playing loud music. Political parties, as well as Goa police have hinted about the Russian mafia in Morjim. However, the BJP government has rubbished the claim.
Conflict between locals and foreigners (Russians)
Goa receives on an average 40,000 Russian tourists annually during the tourist season. In February 2010, a Russian national by the name of Alexander Borowski was charged with killing a local taxi driver, Ravi Shetgaonkar in a scuffle. Since then, the conflict between Russians and the villagers has peaked. This is just one of the many incidents that came to light. There have been a lot more incidents of conflict, even over petty arguments.
Locals also allege that the foreign nationals are involved in illicit activities like drugs and prostitution. It is also known that Russian women come to India on tourist visas and work as waitress at commercial establishments. This is openly flouting the law.
“This year, there haven’t been many fights or conflicts with the Russians. But in the past, we have witnessed many. The Russians gets aggressive over something petty and challenge locals. Being a local, it becomes an insult to lie down and be dominated by them,” said Rakesh Naik.
The official figures state that 105 Russians are settled in Goa, of which 41 are in Morjim while 15 are married to Indian nationals.
Loud music
All night parties with blaring music are a common occurrence at Morjim and Ashwem. This is a cause of massive disturbance for locals who attempted to intervene and stop the parties as police only dilly dally and diffuse the situation.
Locals have also informed that there are notorious establishments in Morjim which play music loudly through the night. Besides, parties are also lined up to be held at Morjim and Ashwem beaches which are turtle nesting sites.
These parties not only affect normal life in the villages and disturb peace, but they also cause heavy traffic jams on the narrow roads in the village.
“Following Sunburn and Supersonic in December, crowds of over 3000 people visited Morjim and Ashwem and the party went on for three days straight,” informed Advocate Shapurkar. This resulted in traffic chaos all the way till Arambol as tourists made a beeline to parties in the vicinity.
“The common man was literally sidelined by the bullying of party enthusiasts. There were road blocks for several hours. Party organizers should not disturb the common man for their benefit,” said Siya Pednekar, a local.
Despite NGOs joining hands to fight the issue and lodging complaints with police, they were powerless to stop the parties. “The parties are being organized at resorts that are being built in violation of the CRZ norms. Police neglect the complaints by locals and show no response to book cases under sections of the Environment Protection Act, 1986,” said another local.
In December 2012, an elderly lady in Morjim died allegedly due to blaring music. The The bed-ridden lady had pressure problems and resided within a kilometer of one of the resorts and couldn’t sleep due to the amount of noise. Locals have strongly raised objections to the organization of such parties at various gram sabhas. Dozens of complaints have been lodged with various authorities but to no avail. They have even made at least four representations to CM Parsekar who is the MLA of the constituency.
The National Green Tribunal, Pune passed an order in December 2015 directing authorities to confiscate sound systems and book an offence against the organizers of parties if found flouting the order of the HC over noise pollution. But the Goa Police have not found any party organizer guilty over violating the law of the environment yet.
Despite all of this, the sound is turned way up and the night echoes with the sounds of blaring music.
Deep in the heart of a sleepless Morjim, it seems that life will never be what it once used to be. Drowned by the noise of illegally played music, and shocked by the silence of those who can stop it, but never will.
