MARCOS GONSALVES
marcos@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Taking serious note of the recent incidents pertaining to illegal hill cutting in Salcete, environmentalists, besides other citizens, are of the strong opinion that is time people raise their voice against the destruction of the environment.
They also feel that the Ganesh Chaturthi is the perfect occasion to pledge for the same, as Lord Ganesha himself is an example of environmental importance.
The recent hill cutting issue of Cuncolim, besides the incidents of Paroda and Raia have resulted in frustration amongst people and environment lovers. All have blamed the authorities and the elected representatives for showing negligence towards issues such as hill cutting and filling of low-lying areas.
Cuncolim residents raising their voice and strongly objecting to hill cutting activities exposed the government authorities, as it has come on the record that the authorities have gone ahead and denied that the hill is not a hill.
Speaking to Herald, Cuncolim resident Dr Jorson Fernandes said it is pertinent to note that without the blessing of politicians and Town and Country Planning officials it is not possible for anyone to engage in ruthless hill cutting, filling of low-lying areas in the name of development, calling a coconut tree grass just to make money.
“The repercussions of these unsustainable developments are landslides, water logging causing flash floods and destruction of our water aquifers and raping our already fragile environment,” he said and added that whether it is the blasting of rocks near Chandor, hill cutting for so-called road in Paroda, housing project in Cuncolim or Raia or the three linear projects or industrialisation or mining, one will find the commonality is sacrificing our delicate environment, already imbalanced ecology and rich biodiversity for the sake of ill-planned development to en masse wealth unethically.
“The ultimate result will be a threat to humanity by insensitive humans who indulge in these nefarious activities without application of their mind. And we know them all,” Jorson Fernandes said.
Gabriel Fernandes from Paroda, who led the agitation against the illegal hill cutting at Mullem village of Paroda, is of the strong opinion that all the people of Goa need to support each other to raise their voice against the destruction of the environment.
“It has been proven that the activities at Mullem are illegal. Shockingly no action has been taken against the violator,” he stated.
Gabriel, along with others, has been fighting illegal hill cutting activity for months but no action from the government authorities has been forthcoming.
He said that grabbing of land for money, and more especially destroying the environment by hill cutting is a serious crime and it should be dealt with stern action.
“Paroda village is surrounded by hills and the Kushavati River. This village is one of the beautiful villages of Goa. The hills of these areas are adding more beauty to the village, and hence they need to be protected in all respects,” Gabriel said.
Herald also tried to look into the incidents of destroying hills at Raia two years earlier at Dagwal, and thereafter a recent incident at Backbhatt.
Xavier Fernandes, social activist and Chairman of Raia Bio-Diversity Committee said that their duty is to protect the environment of the village.
There was an attempt from the retired police personnel to build a housing colony in Dagwal, Raia. However, timely agitation from the citizens stopped the further destruction to the environment.
Raia is covered by seven hills and all are connected to each other but divided by roads. “We have noticed lots of inhabitants in the hilly areas. Peacocks and even leopards are noticed. That means it is the indication of habitats for animals and other species,” Xavier said.
He said that private parties have already destroyed the environment at Raia by cutting down trees in large numbers. Approximately 20,000 square metres of hilly area was on the verge of becoming a concrete jungle.
“Destruction of hilly areas continued till the locals stopped the attempt of widening the road leading to the site illegally,” he said.
Salcete leads the talukas in the number of hill cutting complaints received by the Revenue and the Town and Country Planning authorities, as per the report submitted on the floor of the house a few years back. There were 42 complaints received from Salcete, of which 22 violators were issued show cause cum stop work orders. More cases have been added to the list in recent years.
Taking note of all the hill cutting incidents in Salcete, environmentalist Abhijit Prabhudesai said that people are fighting to protect Goa and Goa’s environment. All want that hills should be hills, rivers should be rivers and villages should be villages.
“We cannot change the use of the land. This is a basic requirement to protect the land of Goa,” he stated.
Prabhudesai further said that scientists from all over the world are of the opinion that even the existence of mankind will be wiped out from the earth due to the destruction of the environment. Before that all the species of earth will be finished, hence the environment which includes the hills, water bodies, paddy fields, rivers, rivulets etc needs to be protected.
