CANACONA
The Water Resources Department (WRD) has been accused of damaging mangroves to construct a retaining wall on the banks of the Talpona river in the Ordhafond region of Poinguinim.
On witnessing the activity underway with the help of a JCB at Ordhafond, Goa Forward Party Environment Cell Chairman Vikas Bhagat alerted the Canacona Dy Collector, Mamlatdar and Police Inspector, requesting an urgent site inspection.
According to Bhagat, the work is threatening the local ecological balance of the area behind the Chapel at Ordhafond.
“If so‘called development entails eradication of mangroves, we categorically reject it, and it doesn’t matter whether it is under Viksit Goa or Viksit Bharat. Such government-sanctioned ecological vandalism is indefensible,” said Bhagat.
“Who authorised the felling of these protected mangroves? One cannot obtain a permit and then casually annihilate an entire ecosystem. Mangroves are indispensable. They stabilise coastlines, nurture biodiversity, and serve as potent carbon sinks.”
He called for the immediate attention of Speaker and Canacona MLA Ramesh Tawadkar to conduct a thorough enquiry into the matter and to affix responsibility for its destruction, before any further development is allowed to continue.
