Documented by Goa Desc Resource Centre Ph:2252660
Website: www.goadesc.org Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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-------------------------------------------------------------- No development around Salmona spring: locals -------------------------------------------------------------- The people of Saligao have simple yet firm demands. Leave the Salmona spring area as it is, without any construction, without streetlights, without tar roads and without any touristic developments. Also please stop the construction now underway near the spring and expedite the acquisition of the land.
The people of Saligao, banded together under the Saligao Consumer and Civic Cell (SCCC) and the Salmona Pariyavarn Manch (SPM) want the Salmona spring to be untouched by the vagaries of development.
In a representation to the Governor, Mr S C Jamir, the Saligao residents have stated that they have resolved to make the Salmona spring and its surroundings into a conservation zone with the following provisions. No construction, no tree cutting, no hunting and killing of wildlife, no garbage dumping and littering, no street lighting and urban development etc. Importantly, they have demanded that "when acquired the government should preserve it as a protected forest, bird sanctuary and conservation area and not develop it as a tourist spot like our beaches."
Armed with 1089 signatures of fellow villagers, the people of Saligao also charged their village panchayat body of corruption in issuing construction license to build a concrete structure near the famous Salmona spring against the wishes of the majority of the villagers. They also accused the deputy collector of wrongly issuing a sanad to convert orchard land for residential purpose.
Addressing a press conference today, members of the above two bodies said they have already handed representations to the Governor and the secretary of panchayats, Mr Raajiv Yadunvanshi, demanding that the construction be immediately stopped and that the land acquisition process be expedited.
When told of the village panchayat claim that it issued the license only after all the government agencies and the deputy collector issued the land conversion sanad, they said all these bodies were not from Saligao and did not know the conditions at the village level.
They said that the panchayat is the local body and has full right to withhold the license considering the resolutions of the gram sabha to preserve the Salmona spring area as it is. They said the village panchayat, in fact, had hurriedly issued the license without even conducting the site inspection. -------------------------------------------- The Navhind Times 9/4/05 page 3 --------------------------------------------
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