Quelossim Village: With limited resources and space, a lot more to protect and preserve for posterity

The beautiful serene village of Quelossim, in vicinity of Verna and Cortalim villages, shares a part of industrial estate area wherein around 99 industrial units come in the panchayat jurisdiction.  Majority of the people from the village are primarily engaged in agricultural, fishing related activities. A mega project is supposed to come up in the village which has promised job opportunities for the villagers, but some villagers are opposing it citing that it will harm the environment and cultural fabric of the village, informs DHIRAJ HARMALKAR

The beautiful serene village of Quelossim, in vicinity of Verna and Cortalim villages, shares a part of industrial estate area wherein around 99 industrial units come in the panchayat jurisdiction. The newly formed panchayat in June 2017 has fewer funds, low revenue, limited resources and space and a lot more to protect and preserve for posterity.

The total geographical area of the village is 1065.32 hectares. It has a total population of 3,262 people, out of which 1643 are male and 1619 female as per the Census 2011. There are around 775 houses in the village and Mormugao is the nearest town. The village is situated 22 kms away from the capital city Panjim and 18.5 kms away from the second headquarters of Goa, Margao.

Majority of the people from the Quelossim village are primarily engaged in agricultural, fishing related activities. A mega project is supposed to come up in the village which has promised job opportunities for the villagers, but some villagers are opposing it citing that it will harm the environment and cultural fabric of the village.

Sarpanch Maria Souza informed that the Quelossim locals are not getting employment in the industrial area which is in the immediate neighbourhood. 

“We have made several letters to the industries but the locals are not getting jobs or the panchayat is getting any revenue from the Verna Industrial Estate. Around 99 industrial units come under Quelossim panchayat jurisdiction. We are not getting any revenue. It is collected by the government and not released to panchayat,” the sarpanch alleged. 

Sources from the Quelossim panchayat informed that the dry waste is collected twice a week from the houses. And the wet waste is self disposed off by the villagers. Garbage is collected and kept in a cage outside the panchayat. Then the waste is handed over to Goa Waste Management Corporation. Plans are on to set up a small waste treatment plant exclusively for the village.

Further, there is another issue of limited hours of water supply in Quelossim. 

 “Initially, we use to get four hours of water supply. But in summer we are receiving very less water with low pressure,” a villager informed. 

“There is a need to have good supply of basic amenities such as water which we are deprived,” he added.

When contacted Lopinho Xavier, chairman of Quelossim Village Biodiversity Management Committee said that it is the need of the hour to protect and preserve the khazan land of the village. We are blessed with the beautiful environment in our village therefore I am opposing the Mini India Project which is going to have replicas of famous monuments from India in village khazan land which is actually a No Development Zone.

He further said that this project will promote and support the Pan Indian culture wherein food, dance, dressing etc from other States will be portrayed here.  “Thousands of people across India will come here and this will adversely affect the environment of the village, native culture and village demography will also get a blow,” Xavier opined.

Although, the Mini India Project proponent claimed that the project is clean and will only have the replicas of the famous monuments. The project will generate hundreds of job opportunities for the locals and will benefit the development and bring revenue to the village panchayat.

Another issue which needs the attention of the government and the people is the natural spring known as “Kesarval Spring”, which is in a dilapidated state for the past few years and needs to be protected before its extinction. 

Few months back some environmentalists and villagers from Quelossim and Verna came together under one banner to save the Kesarval Spring. They cleaned the place and urged the visitors not to litter the place. 

Xavier informed that the Quelossim panchayat recently wrote to the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) to hand over the surrounding land near the Kesarval Spring to the village panchayat assuring that the panchayat will take care of the natural spring and the surrounding area. 

He also informed that the panchayat also approached the police to a keep watch on the spring. The police assured to keep a vigil on the visitors who visit the spring.

Deputy Sarpanch Seby Serrao stated that Department of Water Resources is giving permissions for the borewells which is indirectly affecting the ground table and Kesarval Spring. 

“The locals are worried about the preservation and protection of Kesarval Spring. In the Verna industrial areas several borewells are dug up which is depleting the ground water table,” he added.