MAPUSA
Anger is brewing among the villagers over the alleged illegal hill cutting activity and destruction of forest cover in no development zone in Pomburpa, with locals now planning to gherao the sarpanch and the secretary of the Pomburpa-Olaulim panchayat for issuing permission to the project.
Large number of local residents gathered in the village late Tuesday night and decided to oppose the project. They also decided to question the sarpanch and the panchayat members for keeping the villagers in the dark over the project.
“The massive construction right up on the hill will destroy the village and put a lot of pressures on the crumbling infrastructure. We are determined not to allow the project, come what may,” said Pradip Volvoikar, a local.
Another local, Sunil Karapurkar informed that the panchayat body acted in a very secretive way and did not take the villagers into confidence over the massive project.
“The people of the village were kept in the dark. The issue was never brought or even discussed in the gram sabha. The sarpanch is not cooperating with the villagers. This shows that the panchayat body is hand in gloves with the project proponents,” Karapurkar alleged.
Pomburpa Sarpanch Leopoldina Fernandes informed The Goan that the panchayat body had given licence to the developer for one building.
“We had no option but to issue permission to the developer because he had all the licences right from the TCP to forest department. But we have also written the deputy town planner and the forest department about illegalities being carried out by the developer as pointed out by the villagers,” Fernandes said.
Interestingly, officials of the TCP and the forest department have conducted an inspection of the place after receiving a complaint from the panchayat but no stop work order has been issued.
