BASTORA: Bastora youth and some locals stopped an alleged illegal hill cutting on survey no 113/3 at Gandhyar, Xell in the village on Wednesday evening.
Around three meters height of a hill was being excavated on a private property which was stopped.
The locality is a hilly terrain and there are few houses above the place from where the mud has been removed making the place dangerous to human life and property.
On Thursday, a complaint filed before the panchayat with copies marked for deputy collector, TCP, Mines and Geology departments stating that the hill cutting was undertaken without permission.
In his complaint, Viresh Borkar stated that there was no permission taken as there was no display of board at the site where the excavation or rather hill cutting was being carried out.
“The said act is violation if the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 as well as the Mines and Geology Act as the hill cutting is more than three meters deep. The activity in this area is being carried out on holidays. This act has created a serious danger to the houses on the top of this hill which could lead to loss of human life and damage to property in case of a landslide,” Borkar, a founder member of Revolutionary Goans, said.
Terming the hill cutting, a local social activist Andrew D’Souza demanded that stringent action against the accused for destruction of environment.
“Hills cannot be created or restored and only destroyed. The present hill cutting poses serious threat to few houses which could cave in during the monsoon and lead to loss of human life. Will the government take action or wake up after the disaster,” D’Souza asked.
