MARGAO
It was Sunday morning when Curtorkars in particular and Saxttikars in general made a beeline to the picturesque Ralloi-Tollem in Curtorim. The objective was two-fold “ not only to lay their hands on the much-sought after fresh water lake fish, but to apparently reaffirm their faith and trust in the Ralloi lake and give a clean chit that the lake water is not contaminated as reportedly claimed by the authorities and reported by the media.
In fact, in a clear rebuff to the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) and reports that the Ralloi-Tollem is a polluted lake, hundreds of people from Curtorim and Saxtti countryside headed to the Ralloi-Tollem in Curtorim on Sunday. It’s not that they were not aware of the media reports that the Ralloi-Tollem has been found polluted by the Pollution Control Board, but fish lovers lay their trust and faith in the lake as evident by the beeline seen at the lake on Sunday.
Name them, and a variety of fresh water fish, including chanak, katla, cumina, kher, pitoll, daddi were all harvested by the enthusiastic farmers for sale to the fish lovers. Given that the farmers could not harvest the fish last year due to the Covid pandemic, fish such as cumina, chanak and katla were available in big size, ranging between 5-8 kilograms.
Even as the GSPCB and the State Bio-Diversity Board officials crossed swords over the quality of the lake waters, fish lovers did not seem to have an iota of doubt over the quality of the water and the fish.
A farmer Andrew Barretto scoffed all reports which had highlighted that the Ralloi-Tollem is contaminated. “This is the cleanest lake one would come across in the State. There’s no toilet or sewage discharge in the lake. We can say with confidence that this lake is the cleanest one. We were all shocked when it was reported that the lake is polluted. Today, it has been proved that farmers as well as the people have their trust in the lake,” Andrew said.
Chairman of the Curtorim Bio-Diversity Committee, J Santan Rodrigues termed the reports that the lake is polluted as totally wrong and false. “There’s no pollution here. This is a clean water body. This a tribal dominated area, where agriculture is practiced. Today, the people have given the clean certificate that the lake is not polluted. Otherwise, people would not have made a beeline to purchase fish,” Santan said.
He added: “We were all hurt and sad when it was reported that the lake is polluted. People practice community farming in this lake. The bio-diversity committee has sent a proposal to the Board to maintain this as a heritage site.”
Chairman of the Tenant-Farmers Association, Seby Baretto said, “Ralloi-Tollem is a clean lake, where locals cultivate vegetables and farmers harvest fish. “There’s absolutely no pollution in the lake. People venerate the Almighty here and one would never do wrong things that would pollute the lake water,” Seby said.
With fish lovers making a beeline to the lake since morning, Seby said the farmers have harvested a big catch of the fish this year. “Last time because of Covid, we could not harvest the fish for the third time and hence had to suffer losses. We also could not pull the net because of the moss. This time, the harvest is good,” Seby asserted.
