MARGAO
In an interesting development, Curtorim Sarpanch Alexinho Da Silva has requested the Member Secretary of the Goa State Biodiversity Board to reschedule the meeting called by the board to discuss the contentious issue of declaring village lakes as biodiversity heritage sites to January 18.
The GSBB had convened a meeting on January 16 at 3.30 pm at the Curtorim Panchayat hall to discuss the complaints lodged by the aggrieved persons and stakeholders regarding the draft notification.
The Sarpanch has called for rescheduling of the meeting from January 16 to January 18 at 3 pm onwards at the same venue in Curtorim.
The draft notification to declare Curtorim lakes as biodiversity heritage sites has kicked up a storm in the village with stakeholders, including farmers and the tenants’ associations expressing their strong reservations over the move.
In fact, the office of the Goa State Biodiversity Board has been flooded with petitions by the tenants’ association and individual farmers expressing their strong reservations to the draft notification to declare the village lakes as biodiversity heritage sites.
South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha, who hails from Curtorim village, has come out openly against the draft notification, saying the farmers of Curtorim have over the decades maintained and protected agriculture and the water bodies.
