Arlekar to visit Konko Island on Dec 2
Will also visit other sites having forest land issues
the goan network
CANACONA
Forest Minister Rajendra Arlekar will visit Konko Island off the Palolem coast, following an outcry over construction activity on the eco-sensitive island.
Confirming this to The Goan, Canacona MLA and Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar said he had met the forest minister and had apprised him of growing opposition to construction activities on Konko Island.
“The forest minister has assured to visit Canacona on December 2, and he has also expressed his desire to visit the island to see for himself the amount of damage caused to the Konko Island in violation of CRZ regulations,” said Tawadkar.
According to sources, Arlekar will visit three other areas, including an internal road in a forest which the forest department is reportedly objecting to for its tarring work.
The forest minister is also likely to inspect another road, which needs urgent widening but faces difficulty, as it passes through forest land.
Tawadkar is learnt to have called on Arlekar and spoken at length about forest-based issues in the taluka and sought his personal intervention to resolve them.
When contacted, Tawadkar said Konko should not be disturbed especially when local residents look to it as their protector from nature's fury.
“I will always go along with the sentiments of local residents,” claimed Tawadkar.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Mumbai-based company, which has been served with a stop-work order by Canacona Municpal Council (CMC), has assured the CMC chief officer that they would produce all requisite permissions for activities undertaken on Konko Island on Thursday.
