the goan I network
PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has issued notices to the North Goa Planning and Development Authority which seeks to change the zoning status of the Baga Hill, as well as the people who own or who have bought the land including Anand Bose of Vasco da Gama, M/s Riviera de Goa Resorts and Hotels Pvt Ltd, Mapusa and Alcon Hotels (Goa) Pvt Ltd.
A section of Baga villagers and the Goa Foundation had approached the Bombay High Court at Goa seeking to save the pristine sea facing Baga hill from being concretised by private builders.
The villagers and the Goa Foundation have argued that the decision to build a road through a forested hill is being done solely to benefit a group of real estate interests and resort developers.
“The development on the hill has been enabled through illegal changes made in the Final ODP 2025 of the Calangute Candolim planning area. The existing forest vegetation has been burnt and destroyed in order to commence with the construction of the road, plots and buildings “ a prospect, which if allowed, will mean the end of the Baga Hill for all times to come,” the petitioners have argued.
“The petitioners’ right to ecology and environment, to the natural forests, to the biodiversity of the hill, is shared with the future generations under Article 21 of the Constitution and this is seriously threatened by the recent undesirable and environmentally destructive developments on the hill,” the petition has argued.
The respondents have been asked to respond by July 2.
