Calangute village has been notified as an urban area by the government. However, after villagers, forums and opposition voiced out against the urban status, the local Panchayat of Calangute during their fortnightly body meeting unanimously resolved to write to the concerned department to de-notify Calangute as Urban area. However, villagers are in two minds whether the Panchayat is actually with them or not as the sarpanch and panch members have claimed after passing the resolution.
Sources claimed that this issue had come up earlier when Calangute was declared urban some 18 years back. That time the local Panchayat headed by former Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira and villagers had strongly objected and reportedly reverted the status to a village.
One of the main reasons why there has been so much anger among the people is that the government did not take the people of Calangute into confidence before giving urban status to Calangute nor did the local Panchayat take people’s consent. According to the locals, the urbanisation of Calangute will destroy the identity of the village.
Protestors claimed that after urbanisation the existing 200-metre construction requirement under the Coastal Management Plan will be relaxed to 50 metres resulting in huge constructions and buildings are likely to cover up the coastal area, specially the beach which is considered as the queen of the beaches.
It is also alleged that this conspiracy is hatched by the government’s capitalists to set up hotels and big projects. It is also being alleged that the government took advantage of the Covid pandemic and betrayed the people since in the present situation, people are indoors keeping themselves safe and are unable to see what’s going on outside.
The notification has been opposed by the Aam Aadmi Party along with the Congress and also by Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF).
“Initially on January 30, 2020, the Goa government had issued a notification to confer urban status to a total of 56 villages in the State. However, the notification was cancelled after the people protested. Now out of 56 villages, why did the government feel the need to give only Calangute the urban status,” said Premanand Diukar, President of CCF.
“The government will have to cancel the notification in time. If this is not done then when the time comes, we will knock on the door of the court,” Diukar added.
Urbanisation will only lead to concretisation and not the development of the village because having buildings everywhere is not Development, the villagers claimed.
“This urban status will not benefit the locals at all. There is a selfish motive behind this status and at present Calangute has got the status of CZ3. So there are restrictions for construction on the shore. However, this is a ploy to convert CZ3 to CZ2 and if this happens, the status of village and Panchayat comes to an end,” an active citizen of Calangute claimed.
Villagers also pointed that today they have the right to speak and make resolutions for the betterment of the village since there is a panchayat but once the urban status is applied, the panchayat will be removed and replaced by a municipality, indirectly shutting the voice of the villagers, people said.
“One side the government as well as the local MLA is telling people to get into their fields and on the other hand the government wants to urbanise the village. Once the village is urbanised, the fields, which the people at present, are cultivating will be covered up by buildings. After tourism, agriculture which is the second source of living in the village will also get destroyed,” said a villager Yogesh Naik.
President of Calangute Constituency Forum Premanand Diukar also pointed out the shortfalls of the Calangute including the underground sewerage project which is in an incomplete state for the last seven years. “Work on the underground sewerage project in Calangute has been undergoing for the last seven years. The work had a three-year deadline but even after seven years the project is not ready. Due to lack of technology, sewage still flows on the roads. The ground water level is contaminated due to the discharge of sewage into the intermediate aqueduct,” Diukar said adding that the project in “unplanned.”
“The village of Calangute still lacks basic amenities. The problem of electricity and water seems to be on the rise. The internal roads and the main roads in the village are in poor condition. In the meantime, when we conducted a survey, 168 potholes were found on roads,” Diukar said.
“While granting urban status to Calangute, the State government did not take the locals into confidence or called a gram sabha to discuss it. Basically, Ports Minister Michael Lobo is spreading false information about urban status. Urban status will only lead to the destruction of Calangute village,” said Joseph Sequeira, former Sarpanch of Calangute.
