MARGAO
Opposition to Section 16-B of the Town and Country Planning Act and the Tourism Draft Master Plan 2018 echoed at the gram sabha of Benaulim gram sabha on Sunday.
The meeting chaired by Benaulim Sarpanch Dielle Fernandes adopted a resolution saying no to the amendment to the TCP Act and the tourism draft plan.
The resolution mooted by member Rudolf Barretto said the amendment which allows conversion of orchard land to settlement is done basically to help outsiders who have bought large tracts of orchard land for converting them to plots for construction activity.
“If we destroy our orchard lands, Goa will have to entirely depend on other States for fruits and vegetables. Our own fruit-bearing trees like mangoes, jackfruit and cashew plantations will be lost forever. This will also
adversely affect the ecology of our State. We the people of Benaulim unanimously oppose the said amendment and resolve to urge the
Government to withdraw it with immediate effect,” the resolution added.
On the Tourism Draft Master Plan 2018, the gram sabha said the plan speaks about making Goa a world-class tourism destination but in reality the plan is about allowing casinos in the name of gaming to come to coastal villages, which will give rise to drugs, prostitution, rapes and murders.
Gram sabha members said the destructive policy of the government should not be allowed to finish Goa, saying the State has always been a world-class tourism destination and will continue to be even without the haphazardly drawn policies in the said Draft Master Plan.
The resolution stated that the people of Benaulim unanimously resolve to urge the government to discuss the same with the gram Sabhas of every village of Goa and take inputs from the people in formulating the policies in the Draft Tourism Master
Plan 2018.
The panchayat also discussed the issue raised by gram sabha member Cruz Fernandes, demanding to know the status of his plea to file a police case into the missing file relating to the beach hotel. The chair replied to the gram sabha member saying the panchayat has already acted in the matter.
The question raised by Cruz seeking to know the amount paid to the contractor to carry out the house assessment work also figured at the meeting.
While it was replied that the panchayat has spent around Rs 23 lakh on the work, the member was told to approach the panchayat for further details.
