Residents of St Cruz have set themselves on a collision course against the government over including parts of the village into the newly-crafted Greater Panaji PDA headed by Taleigao strongman Antanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate. The pressure is understandably huge given the fact that Babush’s man Friday and St Cruz MLA Tony Fernandes, after his initial reluctance, decided to quit as a member of the Greater Panaji PDA. Interestingly, Tony is the same legislator who some time back was pushing for inclusion of parts of St Cruz in the PDA on the plank of development.
The crux of the matter is that the new PDA has not factored in fears of locals over eco-sensitive areas being exposed to development. One such area is the century-old Bondvol lake which has served the irrigational needs of the entire village since the Portuguese days. Popular sentiments of the villagers appear to have been ignored right from the start. To begin with, the panchayat body headed by Mariano Araujo gave its stamp of approval without even going to the people. Then came the gram sabha resolution to revoke the PDA approval which the government conveniently ignored, instead moving ahead with a notification.
Secondly, it was TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai who had assured the villagers during his visits that the lake will be protected at all costs. Inclusion of low lying areas around the lake has come as a huge surprise to the villagers who were expecting that Bondvol locality will be kept out of the PDA jurisdiction. There are areas in St Cruz which are reeling under poor infrastructure with residents having issues with electricity and water supply. There is a fear that development would worsen the situation and locals will be reduced to a minority with outsiders and migrants settling in.
There is also a sense of uneasiness building up in the vicinity for the fear that it could be their turn next. While parts of St Cruz and entire Chimbel are included in the PDA, Merces has been skipped. If one would look it through a political lens, the logic would be that St Cruz and Chimbel panchayats are with Goa Forward while Merces panchayat is controlled by a MGP man. Chimbel is in for a PDA shock too. There is a fear in places like Indranagar, which are already filled to the brim, that residents could be moved elsewhere to make way for development. The forest area near Chimbel lake and other low lying areas are included in the PDA.
People have served an ultimatum and have threatened to intensify their agitation. There is a strong fear of the builder lobby working hand-in-glove with those in power known to be connected to real estate, bulldozing their way through. The way forward would be by opening up channels of discussions. Grass-root villagers need to be taken into confidence before taking such crucial decisions. Locals need to be engaged and government should allay their apprehensions. Political compulsions cannot be fulfilled at the cost of public sentiments.
