PORVORIM
Just when the people of the State have been on a vigilant mode to save their forests, residents of Pilerne-Marra were shocked to see massive cutting of trees in a forest area in their village being cleared for a building project sans any permission from the panchayat.
Speaking to The Goan on Sunday, Sarpanch Sandeep Bandodkar said that upon receipt of information from the general public and seeing the viral video of developmental activities being carried out in the forest area, he along with panch members visited the site and immediately stopped the work.
He said that they were shocked to see 2 JCB machines being used to cut the trees in survey no 83/84 of Village Panchayat of Pilerne-Marra and 7 trucks being used for transportation of the wood and also a kachcha road of length 2 km developed in the area without the permission of the panchayat.
“The panchayat has not given any permission to carry out developmental activities in this area nor has the panchayat received any proposal from any party for the same. The panchayat has filed a written complaint to Forest Department, Porvorim police station and the Deputy Collector, Mapusa on December 2 in this regard, for necessary action,” said Bandodkar.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a resident of PDA colony said, “The aforesaid area is behind the PDA colony near Krishna temple and Candelaria Saibin and how come the panch member of this area was not aware of this illegal activity.”
“This work has been going on for several days as could be seen from the massive destruction of trees and the kuchcha road that has been made. It appears that a big project such as for a five-star hotel or for plots is being developed by a powerful business tycoon,” the resident added.
