Building activity comes to a halt in the coastal belt
http://www.oheraldo.in/news/Local%20News/Building-activity-comes-to-a-halt-in-the-coastal-belt/47588.html The High Court order banning construction without adequate garbage treatment facilities has put a stop to all construction activity in the coastal belt. As applications for permissions are piling up at panchayat offices, some panchayats have gone on an overdrive to set up waste management facilities. Team Herald takes a look. The High Court order on garbage disposal has literally brought all construction activity in the coastal villages of Benaulim, Varca and Colva to a grinding halt. The court has banned the construction without adequate waste disposal and treatment facilities. Leave alone multi-dwelling units, the panchayat bodies have stopped issuing licenses for construction of residential houses and structures such as compound walls citing the high court order. Around 100 applications for construction licenses are presently pending with the Benaulim Panchayat. The situation is no different either in neighbouring Varca. Around 25-40 applications for constructions are staring at the Panchayat body since the time the high court order came into force from last year. The situation is slightly different in Colva. If Panchayat officials are to be believed, only permissions for multi-dwelling units stand banned in the village. Says Benaulim Sarpanch Carmelina Fernandes: “The Panchayat is helpless. Majority of the applications received for licenses pertains to single dwelling units and other small structures. We cannot issue any permissions on account of the high court order”. Carmelina along with Benaulim Panchayat members on Thursday descended at the Goa State Pollution Control Board to take up the case of the applicants for construction licenses. “We have brought to the notice of GSPCB officials that the Panchayat has undertaken construction of a composting unit near the Panchayat ghar. We have also disclosed our plans to set up a plastic recycling station in the village”, she said. What has brought the Panchayat face to face with the people is that the construction plans come to the Panchayat with approvals from the Town and Country Planning department. Says Varca Sarpanch Vincentina Fernandes: “The Panchayat cannot issue construction licenses as per the high court order. Even structures such as compound walls come within the ambit of the court order”. Incidentally, the high court order has spurred these villages to set up garbage disposal mechanism in their respective jurisdictions. Take the case of Colva. The Panchayat has set up a recycling station, besides composting units in the village. The village Panchayats of Benaulim and Varca too have roped in environmentalist Clinton Vaz to help in establishing composting units and recycling stations. -- Please post your comments on my Blog: http://goanidentity.blogspot.com/ Please also see below: 1. Benaulim Village Action Committee: http://www.bvacbenaulim.blogspot.com/ 2. "Rape of Goa" : http://www.parrikar.com/blog/the-rape-of-goa/ 3. MAND - an adivasi-rights resource centre : http://mandgoa.blogspot.com/ 4. EVERY GOAN SHOULD SEE THIS VIDEO: http://infochangeindia.org/Infochange-documentary.html 5. Goa's Identity Movement group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com//#/group.php?gid=193497031686 6. Official Government Site NRI Office (GOA): http://www.globalgoans.org.in/