Gc <http://www.thegoan.net/> November 01, 2014 c
NAVIN JHA/ THE GOAN November 01, 2014 It is a crime most foul. While you drive from NH17B to Colva through the interior road, the last of the lush green coconut palm spread that you see will soon end up being history. And the village of the man who fought to stop too much of development kill Goa’s virgin landscape, Late Mathany Saldanha’s Cansaulim faces destruction from a hotel resort project that it does not want. Despite the fact that the village came to know about it almost a decade ago and fought silently to stump it, it is only due to the support of Environment Minister and the local MLA Alinha Saldanha’s tacit backing that the project was overturned. Yet the unease of the past still continues to haunt the village. [image: Mayhem in Matanhy’s backyard]3 MORE <http://www.thegoan.net/uploads/news/big_8798_HOTEL-PROJECT-IN-CANSAULIM_SAGUN--16-.JPG> Pic Credit : Sagun Gawade Share on pinterest_share <http://www.thegoan.net/Goa/Big-Story/Mayhem-in-Matanhy%E2%80%99s-backyard/08798.html#>More Sharing Services <http://www.thegoan.net/Goa/Big-Story/Mayhem-in-Matanhy%E2%80%99s-backyard/08798.html#> It’s a wave that shady officials, dishonest panchayat members and the government will not be able to ignore. And the wave of is only growing bigger. Resentment and protests are growing in the villages of South Goa against a crop of brazen officials, who in combination with corrupt public representatives of local civic bodies bypass laws, and ignore locals while passing building projects with disdain. A couple of weeks back, on a Sunday, October 12 to be precise, the Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim village panchayat hall was packed with villagers. The villagers who were present for the gram sabha sounded agitated, and rightly so. They were both concerned and angry over the proposal for setting up of a resort in Arossim. They were angry because panchayat officials in cohorts with vested panchayat members managed to issue NOC to the promoter of a resort without taking them into confidence. The village already boasts of two huge hotel projects and can a third one withstand the crumbling infrastructure in the village? That was their concern. “We asked the panchayat secretary to send a letter to the promoter that we reject its proposal and also to forward the copies to TCP and others,” said Sheela Gracias, a member of the gram sabha. Her angst along with the other villagers present at the gram sabha was palpable. Enough was enough. They were not going to take things lying down. Not anymore. *How it all began?* It all began in 2006. Some panchayat officials in combination with some panchas issued a NOC to Competent Automobiles Company Ltd for the construction of a 236-room resort that would include a restaurant having seating capacity for 200 persons on a sprawling 1, 10,000 sq. meters of land bang on the coast of Arossim, Cansaulim. As usually happens in controversial projects, the panchayat failed or rather deliberately did not table the project before the gram sabha. So while the panchayat officials and the panchas quietly went about issuing the permission to the promoter of the resort, the people in the village were kept in the dark. After issuing the NOC, the panchayat went a step further and fraudulently felicitated the construction of a 3-metre road access to the massive property. The new access was built, after illegally closing the official access to the beach, which passed through the property. The official access to the beach meant for the locals was built much earlier under the Rural Development Authority scheme. All this was done in a cloak of secrecy without the knowledge of the villagers. *Orchard land* The land on which the construction of controversial resort is set to come up is an orchard land, the property is a farmer’s delight. It has a large groove of coconut tree plantations with almost 7100 trees, two low lying paddy fields and at least four water bodies one of which is a lake. Age-old traditional occupational houses of fishermen and toddy tappers (Gaothan) exist on the Eastern side of the property, just half meter away from its compound wall. The fencing of the property just half meter from the dwelling units violates the High Court PIL 2012 ruling. Further the property with survey nos 129/1 130/1,2,3,4,5,7 131/1,132/1 belonging to Competent Automobiles Company Ltd is bounded on the North and South by traditional rain water storm water drains with definitive names (Katriam handdi, Beam handdi, Khursachi handdi) and on the western side by no development zone (NDZ) sand dunes which are shown as access for guests to the beach. These are yet to be demarcated by M/s Remote Sensing Instruments, Hyderabad(RSI) or National Institute of Oceanography (NIO). *Power & water crises* There is already a big burden on the infrastructure of the village as far as water and electricity is concerned. The village infrastructure is overburdened due to excessive demand of water and electricity from the existing hotels, causing shortages for the resident villagers. The hotels are given the liberty to tap the Selaulim PWD water supply pipeline at Verna and have an exclusive 8 – 10 inch diameter pipeline for its use. Very often, the tapped Selaulim pipeline sites leak and cause wastage of public water. The hotel projects are also given a free hand to have a dedicated high tension electric lines which are drawn over domestic houses from either Verna or Majorda substations thus endangering the lives of the local people and their houses. The high tension lines passing over the houses prevent locals to raise their dwellings by another floor. *The worry over garbage* The village panchayat does not have any provisions or arrangements for handling of garbage and solid waste generated within the panchayat area. At the moment the panchayat is engaged in treating only the dry waste. The earlier Village Panchayat body had filed a false affidavit before the Bombay High Court in Writ Petition 2/2007 that composting pits are in place, thus escaping construction ban imposed on other panchayats which do not have waste management facilities. *Hotel project in close proximity* Two resorts already exist in the village in close proximity to each other. The two existing resorts – Heritage Village Club is located adjacent to the proposed resort and the Hotel Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa is located at a distance of 800 mtrs. The highly eco-sensitive coast line of Arossim village does not have the carrying capacity even for the existing hotels, leave alone a third one. A major storm water drain was blocked by Hotel Park Hyatt causing flooding in the last week of June this year. The Water Resource Department conducted an inspection and compiled a report on the incident. The cumulative impact of the two large hotels projects in the village has had a huge impact on the traditional storm water drains thereby impacting the fragile ecosystem of the village. The WRD and other authorities should conduct study on the traditional storm water drains before any such projects can be considered. *Faulty promise for employment* Promoters who initiate such huge hotel projects come out with tall promises of employment to the locals. But after obtaining all the permissions and green signal on the project they renege on their promises. Initially, they recruit locals but within a short span of time, may be within 2-3 years, they hire cheap migrant labour and eject the locals. Even in the taxi trade, which initially starts with the locals slowly slips into the hands of the hotel management who connive with the tour operators for commission. Very often, the taxis are allowed to be operated according to the whims and fancies of the MLAs, ministers, sarpanchs and panchas and not the really deserving, needy and unemployed people of the village. *The social evil* The hotel management bribes the village panchayat body and encourages groupism amongst tourist taxi operators, leading to great social tensions and law and order situations. In the past such incidents had led to one murder and in another case attempted murder at one of the starred hotel in the village. Illicit drug trade and flesh trade under the guise of Spa also go on unabated in such resorts. Illegal commercial trade (night bazar) is the other social evils posed by these hotels and resorts. *Mismanagement of sewage by other starred hotel* The release of sewage from hotels is a chronic issue for all the villages in Salcete, with the hotels showing no inclination to improve the situation. Sewage from the existing hotels has been observed to be released regularly in the neighboring drains, water bodies and paddy fields and also in the Arabian Sea. Villagers in Utorda, Benaulim, Varca, Colva, Cavelossim etc have suffered tremendous economic, social and health costs due to release of sewage from starred hotels. Based on the past experience, the villagers of CAC have overwhelming evidence that the proposed resort will cause tremendous economic and social losses to the village on account of sewage pollution. *The legal tangle* In PIL no. 29/2011 filed by Goa Foundation, GCZMA, State of Goa and MOEF made submissions with affidavits that the policy for grant of permissions for resorts and hotels in CRZ III would be finalized with the help of M/s Remote Sensing Instruments, Hyderabad. The High Court passed orders on 19th March 2012 with an undertaking that future clearances will be given only after RSI demarcates the plots in CRZ III which are suitable for hotels and resorts based on MOEF guidelines. This study has not yet been undertaken, and no hotels or resorts can be allowed until such a study has been carried out. In the case of Competent Automobiles Company Ltd all clearances obtained from GCZMA, TCP and MOEF were as on 2008 while the High Court order came on 19th March 2012. The Goa government has still not decided whether RSI Hyderabad or NIO Goa will do the mapping of the plots and sand dunes. *Lack of environmental clearance* Significantly and very surprisingly Competent Automobiles Company Ltd obtained health permission for the hotel project from the Medical Officer of Primary Health Centre Cansaulim when it should have been done at the level of Director/Deputy Director of Health Services. The Environment Impact Assessment was not conducted by the mandatory Goa State Environment Impact Assessment authority. *TCP act throws a spanner* As per the latest TCP circular no major projects like multi dwelling units or hotel resorts can be granted licence without a 8 or 10 meter wide road connecting to the major district road is in place, as per the land development and building rules and regulation book. The Competent Automobiles Company Ltd has access to the property by a road that is only 3 meter wide and therefore will find difficult to get licence. “Raj Chopra, managing director of Competent Automobiles has offered various infrastructure development to our panchayat including construction of 50 free toilets and adoption of below poverty level families as corporate commitment for the damage of our environment and peace of our village,” said Cansaulim sarpanch Josita Cardozo. “The same must have been the case of obtaining the NOC with the earlier panchayat which has been proved to be fake not backed by a village panchayat body resolution,” said Anthony D’ Silva, a member of the CAC gram sabha and member of CAC Villagers’ Action Committee. The Cansaulim, Arossim, Cuelim (CAC) village panchayat on October 12 gram sabha unanimously resolved to return the application file of Competent Automobiles Company Ltd for construction of the 236-room resort stating that the file was incomplete as there was no environment clearance / environment impact assessment from the GSEIAA authority. The village panchayat also decided to revoke the NOC dated 2006 issued to Competent Automobiles Company Ltd as null and void, as under the Goa Panchayati Act the NOC was not endorsed by the then village panchayat’s elected representatives and was a fraud on the villagers. In fact it was based on the fraudulent NOC, Competent Automobiles managed to get approvals and other clearances from the Central and State government authorities. “The NOC issued in 2006 to the Competent Automobiles by the then secretary is a fraud and forgery. Under section 47 of the Goa Panchayati Act it is not supported and backed by the village panchayat body resolution. We commend the panchayat body and the Sarpanch to revoke the above referred NOC,” the gram sabha members said. The gloves are finally off. The villagers have come together and decided to take the fate of the village in their hands. The panchayat members, the people who were elected to run the affairs of the village have failed them. The local administration has literally taken them for a ride. The only way left is collective opposition. Opposition to protect precious land in tiny Goa.