MARGAO
The residents of Arossim and Cansaulim villages were left enraged with the Collector of South Goa for failing to meet them for the past two days, despite the villagers waiting for hours outside his office.
Saying that the locals have been fighting for over 12 years to save their villages from the threats created by huge hotels planned in the ecologically sensitive CRZ areas of their villages, these villagers have been demanding that the water bodies, flood-water nullahs, and low-lying fields must be conserved given the threat of global warming, increasing sea levels and intensity and frequency of storms and floods in the future.
Claiming that Arossim village has been threatened by a huge hotel project, proposed in a low lying area within CRZ, the villagers said the hotel will require the destruction of 11 ponds, the main nullahs draining the floodwaters of Arossim village into the Arabian Sea and the low-lying fields that retain the floodwaters.
However, due to the tireless efforts of the villagers, the Principal Bench of the NGT ordered on 24/09/2020 that the Collector is the authority to demarcate these resources and to protect them. The villagers claimed they have accordingly written to the Collector, South Goa on 13/11/2020 to comply with the orders of the NGT, but added that no action has been taken till date, placing the entire village under threat of annihilation in the future.
The villagers have sworn to prevent the destruction of their village for the short-term profits of a few. The villagers are also questioning the role of the government, which instead of protecting the villages and the people, seems most interested in serving corporations and their greed. The villagers are determined to protect their village and take whatever action is necessary to do so, following the Constitution of India and their duty towards the future generations, stated Macklin Cardozo, Fatima Fernandes, Maria Azavedo and Villagers of Arossim, in a statement issued on Thursday.
