A Goan village is on the brink of victory to conserve a century-old lake
By Pamela D'Mello on 21 June 2019
[email protected]
A community is actively pursuing the conservation of a
Portuguese-era hill top lake in north Goa. The reservoir
lies in a high-value real estate area which is being eyed
by developers for construction projects. In the latest
progress, the citizen's efforts have led to a
consultation that will potentially declare the hill top
natural reservoir as a wetland, protecting it with a
buffer zone.
On a rainy day last week, June 12, as cyclone Vayu was
pelting rain on Goa, 400 villagers braving inclement weather,
gathered at a community hall. They were there for Goa's
first consultation on the potential declaration of a hilltop
natural reservoir, as a wetland.
The consultation, called by the Goa State Wetland Authority,
was a hard-fought victory by villagers of Santa Cruz, a
suburban area adjoining Goa's capital Panjim. For the past
decade, the people of Santa Cruz had tried every avenue to
save their villages' crowning glory, Bondvol Lake, a
110-year-old natural reservoir that collects rain and spring
water over a 9.365-hectare submergence basin.
Citizens have been actively pursuing their demand.
They have held bike rallies, public meetings,
mobilised special gram sabhas, taken awareness
treks for school children, filed complaints,
accompanied flying squads, photographed and
videographed violations and dug into historical
archive material to back their court petitions as
well as lobbied with panchayat, politicians and
state government offices.
PHOTO: A special gram sabha (village council meeting)
organised in 2017 for the preservation of Bondvol lake.
Photo by Pamela D'Mello.
Since 2009, construction firms and land grabbers had
stealthily damaged the lake's drainage (sluice) valves, in a
bid to dry out the lake and usurp the land. The natural
forests around the lake were surreptitiously felled and
kutcha (temporary) roads leading to the lake were constructed
at the hilltop site, while goons posted at the site, scared
off birders and other common citizens from approaching the
lake area.
A community's heritage
"Bondvol lake is officially owned by the local
Calapor comunidade (an ancient village land-owning
institution in charge of common village lands). My
great grandfather was one of the original gaonkars
(villagers) that helped construct the lake. It has
unique natural hydrology that collects rainwater
from the hills that surround it on three sides.
And on the fourth side, the villagers fortified an
earthen embankment. In 1910, colonial authorities
put in a valve and a spillway was created to
irrigate the fields in the surrounding area," said
Calapor comunidade attorney Peter Gonsalves (60).
Gonsalves made an impassioned plea to save the lake, at the
June 12 consultation, "You can construct buildings. But
water is a precious resource, and where we have it, we have
to preserve it."
In 2017, the Calapor comunidade had moved the Bombay High
Court's Goa bench to seek protection for Bondvol Lake.
Another citizen, Arturo D'Souza also filed a public interest
petition in the High Court at the same time. While other
villagers moved the National Green Tribunal.
"We, the villagers have decided that we will do what it takes
to save our community asset, the Bondvol Lake," said
architect and teacher Elsa Fernandes (48).
Villagers became aware of the land mafia mischief at Bondvol,
around six years ago, when they observed, using Google
imagery, how the lake had degraded and depleted over the
years. "Twenty-five years ago the lake was filled to the
brim, with 15-metre-high water levels. Bondvol is located on
top of a difficult-to-access dense forested hill, in a
pristine environment. We knew the level was dropping, but
nobody knew why. It was later that we realised it was
manmade sabotage. The spillway was damaged and stones and
mud in the embankment were being removed and fruit trees were
being planted on the embankment itself, so the roots could
further damage the dam," said Fernandes.
A "Save Bondvol Lake" movement got traction in the
6,100-household village in 2016. Alert citizens
noticed roads and construction firms gearing up to
construct apartments on the lake’s periphery.
While on its drying up the bed, a single tenant was
readying to usurp a vast track of the lake's bed
and convert community property to private ownership.
PHOTO: Dried up lake in 2016. Photo by Vixal Raw.
"We petitioned several government authorities, but had to
finally approach the court for justice in 2017," said
petitioner Arturo D’Souza.
The High Court ordered the Water Resource Department to
repair and refit the lake's sluice valve. This provoked a
community celebration at the site, with young and old turning
up in numbers to witness the event.
A year later, another celebration was held by villagers, when
even in the hottest month of May, the restored valve saw the
lake naturally rejuvenate itself. "Earlier, by November end,
water would deplete. But last year, there was two metres of
water even upto May end," said Fernandes.
In November 2017, the high court set up a task force to
enumerate forest trees and demarcate a 200-metre area around
the lake for a no-development buffer zone from the water's edge.
Claiming back their environment
Pressure from villagers saw construction projects for row
houses slowly move away. The movement petitioned the
collector's office against felling of trees obtaining a 'stop
work' order against prominent builders.
The last hurdle, villagers say is the claim by a
single tenant over large areas of the lake bed.
"We think it is illegal," said Fernandes. The
claim though is a case study of how land mafias
have grabbed village common lands and comunidade
land, misusing tenancy laws and backed by
politically-connected land lobbies, she opined.
What was earlier a tenancy lease from the
comunidade for just four months of the year, on a
550 sq m lot on the upper slopes of the dried out
lake for a December-May third cropping season, got
permanently formalised by lower courts through ex
parte hearings. Finally, attempts were being made
to usurp 21,000 sq m of the lake bed, misusing
tenancy laws.
PHOTO: Bondvol lake is officially owned by a local
comunidade, an ancient village land-owning institution in
charge of common village lands. Photo by Pamela D’Mello.
Land owning comunidades were financially and
politically hollowed out by post-1961 governments.
In 1979, comunidade members asked the water
resource department to maintain the lake. But the
WRD's attempt to conserve the lake in 2009, was
thwarted by a court injunction from the sole
tenancy claimant. In the controversial pro-realtor
2011 Regional Plan, the area was zoned as
settlement, with the construction industry readying
to move in. A push back from citizens saw the area
now zoned as environment heritage in the 2021
Regional Plan.
The final step for declaring Bondvol as a wetland complex
With the sluice valve repaired, and villagers now vigilant,
the Save Bondvol Lake movement is hopeful the waterbody will
be declared as a wetland ecosystem, to gain additional
environmental protection for their community asset. The June
12 consultation was the first step. But villagers are
worried that tenant claimants could still block the wetland
declaration, through written submissions before the Wetland
Authority Board.
The conservation of Bondvol was backed by the February 2018
Task Force on Bondvol Lake report. This underscored its
qualification not just as a wetland in itself, but as a
wetland complex, along with its downstream waterbodies and
conduits. The Task Force endorsed taking an ecosystem
approach for Bondvol, mapping trees, shrubs and grasses and
calling for the protection of the forested slopes outside the
NDZ in the 2 square kilometre catchment area of the lake as
well.
PHOTO: The community has been actively pursuing conservation
of the lake for the past few years. Photo by Pamela D’mello.
"We have our fingers crossed," said Arturo D'Souza,
as the Goa State Biodiversity Board conducts the
seven days hearing of objections, before preparing
and placing the Brief Document for its declaration
as a wetland ecosystem before the state board for
approval.
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Banner image: Bondvol lake in Goa. Photo by Prathmesh Umesh Patyekar.
https://india.mongabay.com/2019/06/a-goan-village-is-on-the-brink-of-victory-to-conserve-a-century-old-lake/
