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----------------------------------------------------------------------- Documented by Goa Desc Documentation Service & circulated by Goa Civic & Consumer Action Network (GOA CAN)<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ph:2252660 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saligao residents up in arms against commercial ventures. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Residents of Saligao living near the famous Salmona spring are up in arms, vowing to protect the spring and the land around it as protected forest. The residents have objected to the hill cutting there, blockade of a traditional pathway and the illegal construction, all done separately by two local parties ostensibly with commercial projects in mind. Uniting under the banner of the "Salmona Pariyavaran Manch," (Salmona Environment Forum) Saligao residents have resolved to make the area into a conservation zone with the following provisions. No construction, no tree cutting, no hunting and killing of wild life, no garbage dumping and not even provision of street lighting. They also resolved to stop vehicle washing at the spring and to phase out the toilet activity of the hill to reduce pollution in the area with the immediate installation of Sulabh Souchalayas for each house. The Forum has already escalated the matter to the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Parrikar. They informed him that the Salmona Spring area, a fragile eco-system rich in bio-diversity, is proposed to be included in the category of "Private Forest" under a recent Supreme Court judgment on Writ Petition number 202 of 1995. The residents of Salmona live at a height and public water supply is available only to a few houses at the lower level. "We depend entirely on the spring water," said Ms Malvi Tayaji, a housewife who lives there. "If they block our access and put up private commercial establishments there, we are finished." Another housewife, Ms Prema Daujekar says that at times, the spring water smells due to the rampant dumping of garbage from the coastal belt on the Saligao plateau where the spring originates. "Once about 150 cattle died on the hill after consuming the garbage. It affected the spring and our drinking water quite badly," she says. And 83-year old Mr Francis D'souza attributes his long years to drinking the Salmona spring water. "The water has medicinal properties and it nurtures many medicinal herbs," he states. "The water and the herbs can cure eczema, jaundice and even spondilysis," he says. According to Mr Richard Heaver, an ornithologist and consultant to the World Bank, the Salmona Spring area is known internationally as one of the best bird watching sites of Goa. "Some scare species come here to roost. One is the Brownwood Owl," says Mr Heaver. Residents recently took reporters on a site visit to the spring and showed the illegal tree cutting, and the blockade of the traditional access. While the blockade has been demolished and other activity kept in abeyance through the intervention of the authorities, residents have urged the government to save the Salmona Spring, its surroundings and also to stop the dumping of garbage on the hill. The Forum has also written to the Forests Minister, Mr Vinay Tendulkar, the Chief Conservator of Forests and the local Panchayat besides apprising various environmental NGOs of the threat to the Salmona Spring area. -------------------------------------------------- The Navhind Times 2/02/03 page 3 -------------------------------------------------- ======================================= GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE Documentation + Education + Solidarity 11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507 Tel: 2252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] website: www.goadesc.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy =======================================
