Navhind Times, 3 May 2008 Acron project shown the door in Moira too
NT News Service Mapusa, May 2 Tremors of the controversial Acron project, being shown the door by the villagers of Aldona unanimously at its gram sabha meeting held last Sunday, were also felt in neighbouring Moira. The Moira residents at their gram sabha also vociferously rejected the Acron project that was to come up in a supposedly orchard land, but shown to be flat area. The villagers severely criticised the local MLA, Mr Nilkhanth Halarnkar who, in spite of being the PDA chairman, was allowing such mega housing projects to come up in Moira, especially when the village was already reeling under a severe water scarcity problem. According to available information it is learnt that Acrons had acquired nearly a lakh square metres of land near Moira church in the ward of Calizor. The project was planned to accommodate 15 3-storied bungalows with each bungalow priced at Rs 2.2 crore. Besides this it is learnt from the locals that each bungalow is self-contained with all facilities including a Jacuzzi and a swimming pool. While the entire project also consists of around 16 swimming pools, there have been apprehensions among the locals that there is no provision in the plan for water harvesting, garbage disposal, water recycling etc. The fact that the project papers were submitted minus the contour plan, has caused deep resentment among the locals. Another fear is that the entire project of 15 bungalows, say the locals, is equipped with insufficient number of septic tanks. Alleging that the builder has always been aggressive with the locals and with the panchayat body, the locals who condemned this arrogant attitude of the builder at the gram sabha felt that such a development that would not benefit Moira at all was definitely not something to be welcomed and as such had to be shown the door. Emphasising that the panchayat should take the villagers into confidence, the villagers who had gathered there in large numbers for the gram sabha maintained that such mega projects should be placed before the gram sabha by the panchayat before being approved and only the villagers, after examining the projects from all angles in the larger interest of the village, would give their consent or refusal for such projects. The villagers felt that when the entire of Moira was already reeling under severe problems pertaining to garbage disposal and water scarcity, it was highly objectionable for the authorities to sanction such projects which would be an additional burden on the already strained infrastructure of Moira. Sarpanch, Mr Raghuvir Bagkar assured the villagers that projects that were objected by the villagers would definitely be scrapped and refused any permission, as he said that he was with the villagers in such matters. It may be noted that at a simultaneous meeting which was held at Aldona, a similar Acron project coming up at Carona in Aldona was vehemently opposed by the villagers. The villagers demanded revocation of all licences and scrapping of the project immediately. Around 200 plus villagers, under the banner of Aldona Bachao Abhiyaan, objected to the manner in which the Acron had resorted to a mass hill cutting exercise in order to set up their project. The villagers came down heavily on the panchayat members wondering why they had placed this proposal before the gram sabha for discussion. The panch members found themselves at the receiving end on account of the irate villagers who took the panch members to task for passing projects without taking the village into confidence. However, in the absence of the sarpanch, the deputy sarpanch Ms Maryanna Souza, who chaired the meeting with another panch member, Ms Monica Rocha, tried to pacify the agitating crowd that they themselves were not fully aware of the nature of the project and considering it to be just a residential complex, they approved it. In no mood to relent, the villagers also asked for action to be taken against Mr Peter D'Souza, who was representing Acron and promoting the said construction as an Acron agent. -- Question everything -- Karl Marx