All what Canacona council wants is to save its crown jewel, Konko Island

Complete unanimity on contentious issues is rare in the Canacona Municipal Council and so it has been quite unusual for councillors across the board to have agreed on one key issue.

CANACONA

That key issue has been the need to preserve Konko Island at Palolem, the crown jewel and pride of Canacona. Construction activity on the eco-sensitive Konko Island has been met with angry reactions from ruling and opposition councillors alike. They have targeted their anger at then Canacona Deputy Collector Chandrakant Shetkar, who was also CMC chief officer, accusing him of scuttling public will to safeguard Konko island from illegalities. With Shetkar out of Canacona taluka, his replacement Pundalik Khorjuekar is now under the centre of attention. At the helm of affairs, Khorjuekar has one clear task forced upon him by the councillors: demolish all structures and ban all development activity on Konko island. Palolem Councillor Dayanand Pagui, who spearheaded the Konko agitation, was most critical of the actions of the previous chief officer. “The influence of the Konko Island developers seems to be temporarily broken with Shetkar s transfer out of the taluka. Shetkar seemed so reluctant to act and this allowed the developer sufficient time to act,” said Pagui. In November 2015, Pagui had led a media group to inspect the Konko Island, where considerable construction activity was evident. A mini dock with berthing facilities had been erected, while mobile toilets, huge plastic water storage tanks, 2-3 portable water pumping lines were set up and construction was underway to construct 4-5 huts on the island. “The island is God s gift to the entire Palolem coast. If rampant tree-felling and hill-cutting are allowed on the Island, our own existence will be doomed,” a resident, Prashant Pagi, had said at the time. Following public outcry, CMC officials had finally visited the island and issued a stop-work notice to a Mumbai-based developer. “However, the matter has dragged on with the developer seeking more time to respond to the council s notice. Such was the concern over ongoing works that councillors passed resolutions at almost all council meetings to stop further work on the island,” said Pagui. “Some councillors even had heated arguments with Shetkar, but to no avail. We have been demanding a complete stop to all construction activity to preserve the island,” Pagui added. Despite efforts, Shetkar could not be contacted (on his last known number) to react to criticisms from Canacona councillors, but he had previously sought to defend his actions as chief officer. When confronted by Councillor Shamsunder Dessai during a council meet on January 5, Shetkar had insisted that he was only following office procedures to ensure that the council did not end up in a legal tangle with the developer.

All what Canacona council wants is to save its crown jewel, Konko Island

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