Illegal landfilling of fields at Gaunsavaddo, Mapusa. Captured by : Agnelo Pereira
MAPUSA
Illegal landfilling and spurt in construction and business activities in the fields adjacent to the National Highway 66 at Gaunsavaddo in Mapusa has raised quite a few eyebrows.
Such landfilling activity was taking place in the past but recently the frequency has increased as mud was seen dumped at several areas on both sides of the highway.
The vast number of fields acts as a water retention area during the monsoon.
The blatant unauthorised landfilling activity has also damaged eco-sensitive mangroves in the area which act as natural buffers against erosion and flooding.
Sources informed that some councillors, government servants and even businessmen were involved in the activity even as the authorities were turning a blind eye to the illegality.
“We have given written complaints to various authorities including the Town and Country Planning Department but so far no department has taken any action,” said John Lobo, General Secretary of Tenants Association of Camarcasanacho Bundh.
He said on several occasions, the members of association had confronted the offenders and appealed to them to refrain from filling the fields but to no avail.
The speed in carrying out the clandestine landfilling activity in the cover of darkness has surprised Lobo and other locals in the area.
Interestingly, the landfilling activity has been happening right under the nose of the local councillor Prakash Bhivshet, who is a staunch supporter of the ruling dispensation of the Mapusa Municipal Council.
In the past, Bhivshet had blamed the municipal council and its engineering department for issuing licences to some projects in the area by keeping him in the dark.
“We have not given up hope. We are pursuing the matter with the TCP and other departments including the Mapusa civic body. We want to save the fields for the posterity,” said Lobo, who is socially active and takes up various issues in Mapusa and particularly in Camarkhazan.
Such landfilling activity was taking place in the past but recently the frequency has increased as mud was seen dumped at several areas on both sides of the highway.
The vast number of fields acts as a water retention area during the monsoon.
The blatant unauthorised landfilling activity has also damaged eco-sensitive mangroves in the area which act as natural buffers against erosion and flooding.
Sources informed that some councillors, government servants and even businessmen were involved in the activity even as the authorities were turning a blind eye to the illegality.
“We have given written complaints to various authorities including the Town and Country Planning Department but so far no department has taken any action,” said John Lobo, General Secretary of Tenants Association of Camarcasanacho Bundh.
He said on several occasions, the members of association had confronted the offenders and appealed to them to refrain from filling the fields but to no avail.
The speed in carrying out the clandestine landfilling activity in the cover of darkness has surprised Lobo and other locals in the area.
Interestingly, the landfilling activity has been happening right under the nose of the local councillor Prakash Bhivshet, who is a staunch supporter of the ruling dispensation of the Mapusa Municipal Council.
In the past, Bhivshet had blamed the municipal council and its engineering department for issuing licences to some projects in the area by keeping him in the dark.
“We have not given up hope. We are pursuing the matter with the TCP and other departments including the Mapusa civic body. We want to save the fields for the posterity,” said Lobo, who is socially active and takes up various issues in Mapusa and particularly in Camarkhazan.
