Nestled on the foothills of Western Ghats, Netravali village in Sanguem Taluka shares its boundary with Karnataka towards the western side.
Geographically, the village spread over 122 sq kms is divided into seven wards on the political front. It has a population of 4,735 people of which 2,450 are males and 2,285 females residing in little over 1,143 houses.
Netravali is abundantly blessed by nature with several hot spots, which if tapped and developed properly, could make the village self-sustainable on the economic front.
However, failure on the part of the government to work in tandem with the nature particularly in the tourism and agricultural sectors has left village backward just like several others in Goa.
The hilly areas of Verlem, Salgini and Tudov of Netravali are famous for strawberry plantation. Each year during the strawberry season, a large number of people visit these areas to have a glimpse of the strawberry plantations and get a taste of the strawberries.
Ironically, Verlem, Tudov and Salgini were earlier famous for high grade iron ore and the several heaps of iron ore remains can still be traced. However, the changing laws under the Forest Act and the subsequent declaration of Netravali as Wild Sanctuary brought to a grinding halt the otherwise rampant destruction of these hilly areas by the mining giants. A battle for ownership of vast portion of land on the hilly areas at Tudov still continues between the locals and a mining company till date.
The practice of honey bee rearing also saw the light of the day in Netravali village as an alternate source of income. The project however failed due to unfavourable climatic condition despite successive attempts by the villagers to continue with the activity.
Netravali is famous for ‘Budbud Toli’ (Bubbling Lake), Dattagunfa and the Mainapi and Savari waterfalls, which flow throughout the year. Besides, Tudov is also home to the lesser known waterfalls namely Pali and Udengi.
A large number of tourist throng to Netravali village to witness the enchanting beauty of Mainapi, Savari, Udengi and Pali waterfalls and also that of Budbud Toli (Bubbling Lake) which is recently developed by the Government by giving it a new look. Datta Temple also attracts a large number of visitors throughout the year.
The Budbud Lake (Bubbling Lake) is particularly famous for its distinctive bubbling effect. A large number of bubbles pop out from the bottom of the lake whenever one claps or makes a loud sound leaving the visitors baffled.
The village shot into limelight during the second term of Manohar Parrikar-led government, when late chief minister made elaborate plans to make Netravali a model village under government-sponsored Atal Gram Yojana. Late Manohar Parrikar also had a vision to make Netravali a ‘Dudh Gram’ (Milk Village) which he succeeded as the village presently tops the milk supply in the State.
The Atal Gram Yojana however failed to live up to the desired expectations of the people as of now. Under the scheme, the village did saw some development projects including that of two anganwadis and a couple of shops for the panchayat. The development aspect however slowed down considerably in the last couple of years raising doubts over the dream of late Manohar Parrikar in making Netravali a model village.
When late Parrikar announced Atal Gram Yojana for Netravali, the land prices in the village skyrocketed from Rs 300 to Rs 500 per sq mtr to Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per sq mtr for small plots of land while in the agricultural sector it rose from Rs 100 to Rs 400 to Rs 500 per sq mtr. The purchase of vast tract of land by Parrikar’s son also added to the increasing land prices in the village as many investors dreamt of a gold mine in the village.
Former sarpanch Abhijit Dessai said, “Over the past few years the unemployment figure among the village youth has increased considerably and this needs to be brought under control.”
Dessai expressed the need for labour and agriculture-oriented cottage industries in the village like jaggery, sugarcane crushing and cashew nut factories, which will not only help the village youth in getting gainful employment, but from the neighbouring villages as well.
Dessai also stressed the need to boost the tourism development activities in the village. While there exists several tourism hotspots in the village, the government has failed in tapping the resources and this has left the village underdeveloped in the tourism sector to a great extent despite efforts by the locals to open avenues for a comfortable stay and spice plantation farms in the village to attract both foreign and Indian tourists.
Amit Naik, a villager countered a number of problems the village is facing in the recent times. Despite the existence of several water bodies in the village, many wards of Netravali are deprived of regular potable water.
Village wards of Jacquem, Gawaliwada and Kasabwada among others have to rely on regulated drinking water supply for couple of hours a day. At times, this is also not made available making the villagers face extreme hardship in getting potable water despite the village sitting on the foothills of several springs, rivulets and water tributaries in the village.
The village is also facing mobile and internet connectivity on regular basis. While the hilly areas of Verlem, Salgini and Tudov remain disconnected from the mobile world and internet connectivity, several other wards which are located in close vicinity of the lone BSNL tower in the village also face connectivity problems.
Panch Rajani Gaonkar complained of ordeals the villagers have to face on the power front. During monsoon, the power supply in the village is at the mercy of the nature. As the power cables and electricity poles pass through the forest areas, regular falling of trees on the electric poles and cables make the villagers live in darkness for number of days.
Executive Engineer associated with Electricity Department Sanguem Vinayak Mashelkar is however of the opinion that the problems faced by the villagers on power front will be solved once the ongoing project work of laying underground cables gets completed.
