MAPUSA
A debate on whether the Vagator Hill, a favourite hunting ground for Sunburn music festival, is grazing land or not took much of time of Anjuna Gram Sabha on Sunday. Gram Sabha member, Pradeep Harmalkar, kicked off the discussion asserting that panchayat paid scant respect to ecology and was trying to eliminate the green cover in the village by granting permission to hold events on the fragile Vagator Hill. “If the panchayat goes on issuing permission to hold events on the hill, where will our cattle graze? How will we maintain environmental balance,” he questioned. He maintained that Vagator Hill was a grazing land and should continue to be so. Michael D Souza and Ramesh Naik seconded Harmalkar s claim and urged the panchayat to take proactive steps to protect the hill for posterity and leave it as grazing land. However, a Gaunkar of Anjuna communidade, Camilo D Souza, objected to calling the hill as grazing land. He said Vagator Hill was never a grazing land and that some people with vested interest were trying to give it the environmental angle. “We granted permission to the organizers of Sunburn to hold the event, as the communidade was getting revenue. Also during the four-day event, local guest houses and locals make good business,” the Gaunkar said. Besides Sunburn, many other events including sports programmes were held on the land, he added. Incidentally, Camilo D Souza is a BJP member and was recently appointed as a member on the Board of Institute of Menezes Braganza, Panaji. Deputy Sarpanch Savio Almeida took a defence that if the communidade, who is the owner of the hill issues permission to the organizers then the panchayat has no other way but to issue the NOC. The deputy sarpanch then placed the annual panchayat budget before the Gram Sabha for approval. Ramesh Naik suggested that since the budget has technical details, it would be advisable if it was displayed on the notice board for the public to view and comment. The panchayat secretary agreed to do so and give people eight days to raise any objections. Turning the heat on illegal constructions, Harmalkar said the panchayat was turning a blind eye to unauthorized constructions in CRZ. The deputy sarpanch clarified that whenever the panchayat got complaints on illegal constructions, it has initiated action. Michael D Souza challenged the deputy sarpanch to show complaints which the panchayat has acted upon. Raising another public issue, Harmalkar said the panchayat collected dry waste but left the wet waste to rot by the roadside. The deputy sarpanch assured the Gram Sabha that a tender has been issued to collect wet waste and the work would probably start in the next 15 days. “I appeal to the villagers to cooperate with the panchayat to tackle the garbage problem and to refrain from bringing objections and filing cases,” Almeida said. Harmalkar also questioned the panchayat for failing to make people aware on the Regional Plan 2021. Almeida said the land use maps were displayed in the panchayat for people to give suggestions/objections. He then said the panchayat was ready to discuss the regional plan at the next Gram Sabha if the public so desired. Another Gram Sabha member, Agnelo D Souza, requested the panchayat to renovate a chapel which has remained closed for long and part of which was misappropriated by some individuals. He said he was ready to renovate the chapel but required permission from the panchayat. The deputy sarpanch assured to study the matter and take an appropriate decision.
