To Goanet - If you haven't yet downloaded the document referred to earlier today, it is available here -
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-May/073226.html In today's Herald, we have this news item - http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=3480&cid=10 The once-luscious village of Benaulim has become a stomping ground for builders out to annihilate its ecology & character, and transform it into a pile of concrement (that's my portmanteau word formed by uniting concrete and excrement). Our fields and orchards are rapidly being paved over by the unscrupulous barbarians, enabled by a criminal government. For whom are these mega housing projects? Answer: For the wealthy non-Goans and foreigners. The "Micon Coastal Paradise" - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/micon-1.jpg http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/micon-2.jpg http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/micon-3.jpg Further down, we come upon a sight that is becoming all-too-familiar in our coastal villages: RCC structures looming over traditional dwellings. The villagers are either seduced with promises of flats or harassed into giving up their hearth and home to make way for the new concrete order - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/house.jpg Among the top dogs in Benaulim is the project by Commonwealth Developers, the real estate company owned by Datta Damodar Naik, the so-called "thinker" planted by Digu in the Task Force constituted to draft Regional Plan 2021. Commonwealth Developers' website advertises its Benaulim project "Westwinds" - http://www.cdhomes.com/projects.php?project=westwinds&pg=overview >From the road, looking into what was not long ago an orchard, this sight - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/cdhomes-0.jpg The signboard for the project - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/cdhomes-1.jpg Notice the date for theconversion sanad (12/2007) - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/cdhomes-2.jpg Now look at the view from the main entrance. The sanad was issued barely 5 months ago per the sign displayed. Boy, they are remarkably quick with their cement, aren't they? http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/cdhomes-3.jpg It gets uglier - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/cdhomes-4.jpg The narrow access path left for the villagers in the patch of orchard gasping for life behind the project - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/cdhomes-5.jpg The vista from the orchard behind - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/cdhomes-6.jpg Another view of the interior - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Benaulim/cdhomes-7.jpg A friend is poring over the papers related to this project. Stay tuned. Warm regards, r
