MARGAO
The Rachol gram sabha on Sunday has adopted a resolution demanding the scrapping of the controversial ring road project, with members insisting the ring road project will not bring in gain, but the consequences will be very destructive and will create lot of fear in the village all the time.
Gram sabha members also made a strong pitch for the revival of the khazan lands.
The gram sabha chaired by Sarpanch Joseph Vaz again took up the ring road issues because they found a letter dated March 15, 2024 submitted by the panchayat to the EE, WD VI (Roads), PWD, Fatorda, requesting to keep the proposal in ‘abeyance’. The members expressed fear that this would allow the proposal to be taken up again in the future and to proceed without informing the villagers or placing it before the gram sabha.
Further the gram sabha strongly voiced their request to scrap the proposal completely with legal backing.
Member Diana Tavares pointed out that Ilha de Rachol is a unique/ waterlogged island which is in the stomach of highly eco-sensitive khazans and River Zuari, around a km away from land mass of Camorlim, Raia, and Praca Rachol villages. “This makes Ilha de Rachol most vulnerable to devastation, as there are no means for evacuation and to rescue the people,” she added.
Tavares further pointed out that the State Action Plan for Climate Change for the State of Goa report prepared by Goa State Climate, which has sounded a warning to be prepared for any crisis and has requested to stop all unplanned constructions in the khazans, low-lying areas, eco-sensitive zones in all coastal areas, especially Salcete, Bardez, Tiswadi and Mormugao.
Meanwhile, the gram sabha members have demanded revival of the khazan lands. Saying the Rachol village panchayat jurisdiction is highly rich in khazan fisheries and Khazan rice, Diana Tavares and others said, “Our ancestors have reclaimed and created these khazans, conserved these resources, and never abandoned them. We, the villagers, need to revive these khazans as the coming days are predicted to be very bad due to climate change and when we realise, it will be too late. As there is an agriculture policy in place and the government is waking up to the need to revive our khazans, we need to take help from the government to get subsidy, create awareness with tenant associations and start the planning process,” they said.
They added: “To revive these khazans, we need to take it up as community based farming with the help of Agriculture department. It was therefore unanimously resolved that the sarpanch and secretary shall take up the revival of khazans of Rachol panchayat area as the highest priority.”
