THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA: First, it was illegal land filling of fields. Now it’s illegal hill cutting. It’s all happening in Bastora, which is slowly turning into a hub of illegal activities.
Taking advantage of the national holiday on Wednesday (May 1), some unknown people pressed a JCB machine into service to partially slice a hill at Xell, Bastora and attempts were made to remove mud from the foot of the hill.
Incidentally, there are some houses on top of the hill, the land of which belongs to Bastora comunidade and mud extraction could precipitate a potential landslide in the monsoon posing serious danger to houses perched atop the hill.
The locals staying on top of the hill later contacted members of Revolutionary Goans and Viresh Borkar of the organization, on Thursday, lodged a complaint before Bastora Sarpanch and various other authorities against illegal hill cutting in Survey no 113/3 at Gandhyar, Xell, Bastora.
The complainant said illegal hill cutting was carried out without any permission from mine and industries department, village panchayat or TCP and that no display board was available at the excavation site and therefore the act was in violation of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994.
He further said it violated the mines and industries act since the hill cutting was more than three metres deep.
He also said that the activity was being carried out without any conversion of the use of the land as required under Section 32 and related provisions of Land Revenue Code, 1968.
“The illegal act with criminal intention has been deliberately planned on a public holiday so as to allow for uninterrupted execution,” Borkar said.
Besides the sarpanch, the complainant also wrote to Dy Collector Bardez, senior town planner, Bardez, Mines and Geology department and urged them to file a police complaint against the JCB operator and take immediate action against the illegal hill cutting.
Bastora Sarpanch Savio Martins acknowledged having received a complaint and further said he has directed the panchayat staff to issue notices to owners who have houses in the area.
“We will carry out an inspection and if it is illegal, we will write to the TCP to take necessary action,” Martins said.
Despite complaints to authorities, illegal activities of land filing and hill-cutting continue to take place time and again in the village. “Our law is toothless and therefore people are not scared. We are helpless in taking action against such illegalities,” the sarpanch said.
He said government should come out with a strong law so that even the panchayat can take action against those involved in such illegalities.
