MARGAO: The villagers of Colva led by the Sarpanch stopped an illegal land filling in Gandaulim, Colva. More than six trucks of mud were dumped in a natural drain (nulla) and a low-lying area. The police and the flying squad were called at the site to stop the work.
While the police arrived immediately, the flying squad took more than three hours to reach the site. The owners of the property were at the site along with a JCB excavator which was levelling the mud. The owners did not allow the Sarpanch to enter the property. The police also did not allow the Sarpanch to enter the property.
When the Flying squad arrived, an officer from the Deputy Collector’s office along with a constable entered the property. However, they too restricted the entry of the Sarpanch and Panchayat officials. Judith Almeida of Colva Civic and Consumer Forum, who was at the site said, “The flying squad has to take the local Panchayat member or Sarpanch for inspection because the locals know the terrain. The flying squad team inspected only a small section of the nulla and failed to see that the other portion of the nulla which was filled with mud. The entire nulla connects to a water body in the centre of the property. The water body had been illegally filled earlier.”
Once the flying squad left the site, the JCB resumed work and continued levelling the property. The Sarpanch entered the property and stopped the JCB. A couple of labourers who were at the site fled.
In the evening, Colva police said that owners filed a complaint that the Sarpanch and other locals of Colva assaulted their labourers. The Sarpanch told Herald that the labourers had fled and that no one was assaulted. “The police constables were at the site at all times. They would have arrested us if we had done anything wrong,” the sarpanch said.
The JCB continued to carry out the work and even demolished the gate and part of the compound wall.
“Some officers in the government are supporting the owners who have built a compound wall illegally and are harassing a poor woman and her brother living in the hut inside the property. Now they are trying to file frivolous cases against the locals in order to shut them up,” Almeida said.
