Team Herald
PANJIM: St Cruz panchayat on Saturday decided to withdraw the letter giving permission for the inclusion of a portion of the village in the Greater Panjim PDA.
“As the people of St Cruz village had opposed this in a gram sabha last month, the same resolution was taken here and we have decided to withdraw the consent letter given to the Government,” St Cruz Sarpanch Mariano Araujo said.
He said the panchayat would be writing to Town and Country Planning Department and to the chief minister to convey the same decision. “We want development in the village but we cannot go against the decision of the villagers,” Araujo said.
Earlier on Saturday, St Cruz residents and activists protested the move of the government to include a portion of St Cruz village in the Greater Panjim PDA. The villagers held a protest at the panchayat demanding that the consent letter given to the government to include a certain portion of the village in Greater Panjim PDA be withdrawn.
The panchayat had given its consent to the government to include some survey numbers in the PDA, while the local MLA has also given his consent letter to PDA.
Activists said that some of the areas are low lying and the proposed plan of the government indicates a highway through the fields.
Arturo D’Souza a local activist said that on December 17, 2017 at the gram sabha it was decided to withdraw the consent letter given by panchayat and the sarpanch had agreed to it. “Today we came once again to protest against the same and to remind the panchayat ruling council to withdraw the letter,” D’Souza said.
Andrea Pereira a local from St Cruz village said the village will face a major disaster if the marked portion comes under Greater Panjim PDA. “Our demand is very simple: We don’t want partition of village by including some portions in the PDA. St Cruz is already facing major problems which the government hasn’t bothered to resolve for decades,” she said.
Activists said that the government intends to construct a road right from Cujira passing through Alto St Cruz, periphery of Bondvol lake, Bandh till Mala in Panjim.
