VASCO
Arossim villagers led by social activist Simon D'Souza, ward panch Macklene Rodrigues and other residents on Monday protested against cutting of sand dunes in the area and filling up of the nullah . Residents offered an ultimatum of seven days to the authorities to act on their complaint and restore the sand dunes and clear the nullah failing which they would resort to hunger strike or take legal action.
Speaking to the media , social activist Simon D'Souza said that a sand dune was cut using a JCB and a traditional drainage nullah had been blocked a month ago.
"This nullah has been filled up without any permission and we caught the person red handed and we called the Verna police who attached the JCB . We have written to all relevant departments and we request the MLA , Panchayat and Environment Minister to act on our complaint which has not happened till date, within seven days . We demand immediate restoration of the damaged sand dune and get the traditional drainage system back to normal .
"We have given copies of our complaint to the collector to demarcate all the existing water bodies, traditional drainage as per the NGT order . We also request the Goan owner to co-operate with us and not to encroach on traditional waterway because there is an NGT order clearly directing the collector to demarcate all the waterways along the Arossim coast to help what our ancestors kept for us. We will decide on our next action after the ultimatum of seven days expires," said D'Souza.
" There was an incident in 2014 , when the owner tried to block this water way and water rushed in the village and the fields as if the sea had come on land . These sand dunes are natural barriers for protection against tsunamis. This destruction of Mother Nature will not be tolerated and we demand that the person destroying sand dunes be booked and thge status quo be restored immediately, " said D'Souza.
Ward panch Macklene Rodrigues said that she would take the issue up with the panchayat.
"I had got a phone call that sand dune was being cut and I rushed to the site to see a JCB working after which we called the cops since the workers were refusing to stop the work. We had demanded to restore the sand dune but it has not been done as yet.
"We have written to the Panchayat and other authorities about the issue and the authorities must act on our complaint. The person carrying out works on the sand dunes did not inform the Panchayat and we demand the owner to come to the panchayat and show us his documents," said Rodrigues.
