MARGAO
After receiving a host of objections to the proposal to notify the Biodiversity Heritage Sites in Curtorim village in January last year, the Grievance Committee (GSWA) will hold a meeting on December 5 at 3.30 pm at the Curtorim Village Panchayat Hall to re-hear all the objections received by the Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB).
Chairman of the Grievance Committee, GSWA, retired Judge Desmond D'Costa, and other members of the panel will attend the meeting.
The Biodiversity Heritage Site (BHS) in Curtorim village was proposed in 2015 by the Village Panchayat Curtorim, which constituted a 12-member BHS committee nominated by the people of the village Panchayat Curtorim. The GSBB started the process of notification of the Biodiversity Heritage Site in Curtorim upon recommendations from the Curtorim Village BMC and the BHS committee.
The GSBB prepared a draft notification for the BHS in Curtorim village and later invited objections, which were kept open for 60 days. The GSBB received certain objections to the draft notification of Curtorim BHS. Subsequently, the GSBB held a grievance committee meeting on 21/10/2022 to address the objections and resolve the issues related to the BHS in Curtorim village.
Incidentally, after the meeting held on January 18 last year, the GSBB received objections from stakeholders and even from local MLA Reginaldo Lourenco, calling for scrapping, delimiting, and de-notifying the BHS in Curtorim village.
In fact, a total of 15 objections were submitted by stakeholders, including tenant associations, individuals, and the local MLA.
In his objection, Agnelo Azavedo called for the removal of all water sports shows from the BHS plan and further removal of the eco-tourism sites from the plan.
Similarly, the president of the Sirgem Add and Angdoi Tollem Tenants Association, Shubert Da Costa, had called for the omission of the proposed water sports sites, as well as the eco-tourism sites, from the plan.
