Goa Top of Form Bottom of Form The Times of India Advanced Search » · Home · City · Goa · Crime · You are here: Home » City » Goa Rough road ahead TNN | Oct 1, 2014, 12.30 AM IST READ MORE Xhakecho Zunvo|Times Panchanama|St Estevam – Tiswadi|RP 2021|Isidore Domnick Mendis Times Panchanama - St Estevam - Tiswadi
Till a decade ago, every December 26th saw the St Stephen's club at Mazagaon, Mumbai, organize a dance at the Central Railway Institute ground in Byculla. It was open to families and was more popular than the Christmas dance which was restricted to couples. This dance was monikered the 'bhendekar special', for the locals who were from St Estevam, a village in neighbouring Goa. The octopus-shaped St Estevam village, spread across 8.2sqkm in Tiswadi taluka, is famed for its seven-ridged long green ladyfingers, bhende in Konkani. It is also called xhakecho zunvo, the island of vegetables. Housing a population of 3,500, the island-village, till recently, had most of its men working overseas as seamen. The distance however has never diluted residents' connection with their beautiful home, which is why when blatant hill-cutting threatened the village's heritage fort in 2006, a local movement was born. It was the flagship of the state-wide movement against the real estate-friendly Regional Plan (RP) 2011 and the spark that ignited the formation of the activist group Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA). While RP 2011 was finally scrapped, the current RP 2021 is giving zuemkars, as the island's residents are known, sleepless nights. It proposes a 10metre-wide road in the village which has beautiful houses on both sides of its narrow road that measures no more than 4 meters. "Why do we need wide roads in one of the most gorgeous villages of Goa? These will in no way serve the interests of the village or its residents," says Lucas Ribeiro of Mangueiral Vaddo. Iver Ferreira concurs, "The state government should listen to the villagers by standing by the draft Regional Plan that was prepared by us and which took care of our village's future considerations without disturbing either the settlements or the ecology." Firebrand environmentalist, Bismarque Dias, points to the neighbouring villages of Khandola, Naroa, and Tottewada, where the ecology has "already been compromised by the cutting of hills and mangroves, the construction of illegal roads and CRZ violations". These villages have ambitious projects under way, including a township of 881 exclusive villas, water ballast, coal cargo, iron ore, shipbuilding, and hinterland tourism. "We are trying to save our land which has been wickedly destroyed and robbed through the RP 2021. The proposed 10m road is a barbaric step to bleed the land and dislocate the locals. St Estevam is already facing ecological, social and cultural challenges foisted on it through environmentally-destructive projects, be it on its own vaddo, Tolto, or on its bordering villages and towns like Khandola, Naroa, Tottewada," says Dias. Scrapping the "environment and people unfriendly" provisions of RP 2021 is now a mantra in St Estevam. "RP 2021 is destroying our entire village, from its fields to its institutions, especially the church, temple, schools, etc. It is playing havoc with people's lives. The projected 10m road will bisect the church property, especially in the area where the 'stations of the cross' (the Lenten commemoration of the Passion of Christ) are held annually for the last 100 years," says Fr Domnic Sequeira, assistant priest at the St Stephen's church which was built in 1575. Artimisia Rangel of Palmar waddo says, "The government should never keep villagers out of important strategies like Regional Plans. Only then we can prevent disastrous provisions like the 10m-wide road or CRZ violations." While some locals are skeptical about the village panchayat's support to their cause, sarpanch Camilo A J Nolasco Menezes stresses, "The panchayat is totally against ecologically-destructive projects, whether these are widening of roads or any other construction activity. We would not allow any widening of roads which would destroy the nature of the village." Cumbharjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar told TOI, "I will not allow the 10m road-widening to happen. We cannot demolish houses to make way for such a road. The mention of the road came up because it was already marked in RP 2001." Problem Problem Sand mining & hill issues St Estevam village, which has nine waddos—Tolto, Igreja, Foro, Polwado, St Francis, Tonca, Mangueiral, Palmar and Akhada—suffers from rampant and illegal sand extraction. "Sand extraction is affecting our bundhs which are already weak and which protect our lives and our khazans. No action has been taken against violators though I have personally filed a suit against all government authorities concerned, from officials of the mines department to the village panchayat secretary. A few months ago the Old Goa police forced me to file an FIR at the behest of the judicial magistrate fist class. But there is pin-drop silence on action against sand extraction," claims environmentalist Bismarque Dias. Locals say St Estevam's hill-top, one of the village's most beautiful spots, which is adorned by the monument of Christ the King as well as the historic fort, is also devoid of both security and cleanliness. BOX Illustrious 'children' The village enjoys a celebrated status for its past and present illustrious children. There's the late Miguel Caetano Dias, a physician, who was a former chief of the state health service, just like his father Victor Manuel had been in 1947 under the Portuguese. Alvaro Dias was the last Chief Justice of the Goa High Court (Relacao) during the Portuguese regime. Late Leandro Da Rosa aka Padre Mestre Rosa, a distinguished priest, was appointed 'Vigario-Vara' (Vicar-Forane) for Panaji. The late Angelo Da Fonseca, the 'father' of Indo-Christian art, was an outstanding global artist. And the late Olivinho Gomes, an officer of the Indian Revenue Service, also served as professor and head of the department of Konkani at Goa University. Present-day celebrated zuemkars include, Allan A Dias, an MD in pediatric pulmonology (USA); Mario Francisco Dias (Poiso) who has won several international awards for advertising; Rufino Monteiro, a cardiologist and the chief of the Goa Football Development Council (GFDC); Dominic Menezes, recipient of the gold medal 'Doctor of Millennium Award 2000'; and reputed Konkani singer Xavier Gomes. Top View The panchayat is totally against ecologically-destructive projects, whether these are widening of roads or any other construction activity. We would not allow any widening of roads which would destroy the nature of the village Camilo A J Nolasco Menezes, sarpanch I will not allow the 10m road-widening to happen. We cannot demolish houses to make way for such a road. The mention of the road came up because it was already marked in RP 2001 Pandurang Madkaikar, Cumbharjua MLA Peoples' Take Why do we need wide roads in one of the most gorgeous villages of Goa? These will in no way serve the interests of the village or its residents Lucas Ribeiro, resident of Mangueiral Vaddo We are trying to save our land which has been wickedly destroyed and robbed through the RP 2021. The proposed 10m road is a barbaric step to bleed the land and dislocate the locals. St Estevam is already facing ecological, social and cultural challenges foisted on it through environmentally-destructive projects, be it on its own waddo, Tolto, or on its bordering villages and towns like Khandola, Naroa, Tottewada Bismarque Dias, resident & environmentalist RP 2021 is destroying our entire village, from its fields to its institutions, especially the church, temple, schools, etc. It is playing havoc with people's lives. The projected 10m road will bisect the church property, especially in the area where the 'stations of the cross' are held annually for the last 100 years Domnic Sequeira, assistant priest, St Stephen's church Stay updated on the go with The Times of India’s mobile apps. Click here to download it for your device.
