Say govt should not grant permission without conducting study on village carrying capacity
Benaulim gram sabha members raise their hands in support of a resolution opposing multi-dwelling housing project proposed in the village. (right) Sarpanch Xavier Pereira and panchayat members present at the gram sabha.
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Benaulim villagers on Wednesday in one voice firmly opposed a multi-dwelling project proposed in the village, asserting the government should not grant any permission for housing projects without conducting a study on the village carrying capacity.
The gram sabha passed another resolution unanimously opposing the amendment to the TCP Act's granting additional 'FAR and Height' stating that these amendments are not people centric and are inserted to facilitate the real estate and the builder lobby thus defeating the very purpose of the Regional Plan guidelines and participatory planning
In another resolution, the gram sabha resolved that the Benaulim Bio-Diversity Committee should do a bio-diversity assessment of the project site and submit the same to the Panchayat
At the special gram sabha held at the panchayat hall on Wednesday evening, gram sabha members raised their hands in support of the resolution opposing the multi-dwelling project comprising of 80 apartments, 18 shops, five villas and a swimming pool.
The gram sabha members have resolved that the Town and Country Planning department should not clear any housing project in the village based on proposed roads, insisting that proposed roads shown in the plan remain only on paper.
Benaulim Sarpanch Xavier Pereira set the ball rolling when he said the Panchayat decided to place the multi-dwelling project at the gram sabha meeting since the gram sabha had in the recent past adopted a resolution opposing multi-dwelling projects without study on the carrying capacity of the village.
During discussions on the contentious issue, gram sabha members raised a host of issues while objecting to the multi-dwelling project in the village. Members pointed out that Benaulim village is facing a host of infrastructure-related issues, including improper garbage management, absence of Sewage Treatment Plant, narrow roads, besides erratic water supply, etc.
The members objected to the multi-dwelling housing project in its current form, saying there is no 15-metre wide road on the ground, adding that the 15-metre road showed on the plan is only a proposed one. They further apprehended that the project will block the access of farmers to the agricultural fields.
Saying that Benaulim village is grappling with garbage management, members pointed out that the village has no facility to treat existing garbage, adding that garbage generated by the proposed project will only aggravate the situation.
Members further pointed out that Benaulim has no sewerage treatment plant to treat sewage, pointing out that sewage from neighbouring Colva is finding its way into the Benaulim village, contaminating the village water bodies.
Raising fears that Benaulim village is facing issue of restricted water supply, members only feared that the multi-dwelling housing project, besides the swimming pool will further worsen the situation.
Gram sabha member Geraldina Fernandes recalled that Benaulim had led the fight against mega housing project over a decade and half ago when real estate developers had set their eyes on the coastal village to set up housing projects. She said the multi-dwelling housing project will not only affect the village demography but will be a drain on infrastructure.
Where is the village
carrying capacity? (subhead)
Gram sabha member Rudolf Baretto reminded that the gram sabha held in November last year had demanded that the panchayat first conduct the village carrying capacity before granting approvals for multi-dwelling units.
“Has the government conducted any carrying capacity in the village”, Rudolf demanded to know, saying this is one ground to checkmate the real estate lobby if they dare challenge the gram sabha and panchayat decision in the court of law.
Rudolf feared that being a coastal village, Benaulim could face ingress of saline water, devastating the drinking water wells and water bodies in the event the real estate lobby opts for bore wells, depleting the ground water.
Panchayat should resign
if govt approves project
Former Benaulim deputy sarpanch Nilesh Prabhudesai said the Panchayat should call another gram sabha to decide that the Panchayat would resign if the builder gets the permission from the government.
“We will have to take a drastic decision in the event the builder gets the permission from the top after the project was rejected by the panchayat. One way to draw attention of the government is the en mass resignation by the panchayat members in protest against the government decision to dump multi-dwelling projects on the villagers”, Nilesh added.
