Although Cotigao village has been accorded the status of a village panchayat, it lacks basic minimum facilities in some of the wards.
The village has more than 90% of its population belonging to the Schedule Cast and Tribes.On paper, it looks like the village, which shares a border with Karnataka is ideal for developing public infrastructure like roads, water supply and other similar works through the tribal sub-plan. However, the reality is that some of the villagers still literally dig water holes on dried riverbed to meet their drinking and cooking water requirements. Moreover, inspite of Talpona River passing through this village, the drinking water supply is a huge issue in the village as most of the wells run dry in the beginning of summer every year. Due to this, it is a common sight to see the village women leaving aside their daily chores and lining up to collect their quota of ration from the water tankers. The dam built at Gaunem in nearby Gaondogrem, was meant to supply water for irrigation and drinking but it lies unutilised as the dam doesn’t have a conveying line even though the dam was constructed a couple of years ago.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
On another note, it may be recalled that there was uproar in the village where locals had threatened to demolish a mobile tower in the village after mobile services were disrupted for long time prior due to the nonpayment of rentals to the owners of the mobile tower by the service provider. However, this issue had been resolved following the intervention of Canacona MLA and Deputy Speaker Isidore Fernandes.
Commenting on the issue, Fernandes said that he is in constant communication with BSNL, the public sector undertaking, to start their services as has been done at Gaondogrem with a similar customer base.Speaking about the situation, Dashrat Velip said that with no mobile phone connectivity, it is akin to the earlier times when it was difficult for those outside the village, especially locals who have moved out for work, to pass a message to their families back home. “The situation turns grave during medical emergencies,” Velip added.
“Proposal for BSNL mobile services and water supply from Gaunem dam are various stages of implementation and should see the light of the day in few months from now, added Fernandes.
Another area, which needed immediate attention are the four culverts in the village, which are in a dilapidated state.
One just has to take a look at the underside of these culverts, to confirm its pathetic condition.
This, despite the fact that resident have complained to PWD officials repeatedly. Locals also complained that the file for reconstruction of repair has not moved.
Elsewhere, while most of the roads in the village have been hotmixed, their narrow width poses a challenge to vehicle operators.
However, the residents of Nadke, Marle, Ponsuleamol and Endrem live without a proper approach road to their village as they fall in wild life area.In the absence of roads and culverts there are instances where in boys and girls from this village are forced to take dangerous options to travel to school and can often be seen threading through running streams during monsoon season. Rajesh Gaonkar, a former sarpanch of Cotigao village speaking about the difficult life of the tribals said that life there is difficult and different from the life in cities.”If anyone misses the last bus to the village in the evening there is no chance to reach home as the mobiles have stopped ringing since last 6 months and in such cases, the only solution is hiring a motorcycle by paying through the nose”.”Imagine a woman missing a bus and getting stranded in the night at Chaudi, that’s the situation we are in” lamented Gaonkar. When Fernandes was asked to throw some light about this, he informed that deputy collector of Canacona has sought area required for the approach road from Marlem to Tirwal from PWD.“Once that is done we will take an NOC from the Forest Department for diversion of land under Forests Right Act, 2006.In similar way we will construct roads in other settlement areas where roads are missing,” informed Fernandes. One area that used to be a recurring problem but has been rectified now is the power cuts, according to the villagers. They say this is due to the underground cabling of electrical distribution wires, which was completed a couple of years back in the entire village by using funds from tribal when former MLA Ramesh Tawadkar was the then minister for tribal welfare.
On a more state-wide note, Goa has been in the news with regards to the animal-man conflicts in the area of the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary. This village is also surrounded by Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary and locals have their share of problems. The sanctuary has in abundance wild animals like Indian Bison, monkeys, wild boars and pea fowls and they have been blamed for destroying the crop of the farmers causing huge financial losses to the villagers every year, whose major occupation is agriculture.
Farmers have also faced problems related to the rise of water in Talpona River over the last decade. This recent phenomenon has led to the huge losses to standing cash crops near the banks of this river, which otherwise is the life-line of the village and its inhabitants.
