My heart goes out to the villagers of Carmona
and to the gutsy Orlando and Julie
Thank you Savia for a great article
The fight must go on
We once thought that Goans had no will to expose and oppose the evil around
them
How the senario has changed . Faceless, simple Goans have decided that
enough is enough. It is in the village gram panchayats that our battles will
have to be fought so that one day the WAR against evil forces, the
politicians, bureaucrats and above all greedy businessmen will be won
George Menezes
----- Original Message -----
From: "Goanet News Service" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Goanet" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 8:09 AM
Subject: [Goanet-News] Power of collective will
Power of collective will
Faced with rampant, mindless development in Goa, a citizens' forum strikes
back
Savia Viegas
FUELLED BY a tourism-driven image of Bacchnalian Haven and with 'new
money' chasing to acquire a piece of paradise, north ern Goa stands
denuded of its rich cultural ambience by the imposing walls of apartment
complexes.
The real estate developers have now been pushing down towards the southern
parts of Goa, attracting the second-home seekers to its lush serenity and
its snowy white beaches.
Recently the Mumbai-based builder, K Raheja Universal Private Ltd,
announced the 'mother of all projects' to build 618 apartments in sleepy
Carmona. The company had purchased two large estates called Chulibhat
bearing Nos 64\\1 and 67at Tamdeg ward for a reported consideration of Rs
45 crore.
Three decades of tourism have brought about a plethora of changes in the
tiny feudal village of Carmona, situated on the southern coast of Goa and
hemmed-in by the large and prosperous villages or quasi-towns of Benaulim
and Varca on one side and the popular tourist hinterlands of
Cavelossim-Mobor on the other.
With large tracts of land now being acquired to provide luxury housing to
the holiday-home buyers, villagers grew concerned about the impending
scarcity and the rising land prices. The Raheja project, if allowed to
take shape, was increasingly seen as creating havoc by putting tremendous
pressure on the existing, rudimentary infrastructure including water
resources, electricity roads, garbage dispos , al and sewage systems,
among others. Like many Goan villages, Carmona has a perennial water
problem and the government-supplied pipeline lacks adequate pressure. This
is not surprising since the villages along the tourist-favourite, coastal
belt compete with the starred hotels which are often the biggest guzzlers
of water.
Similarly the village suffers frequent , power breakdowns, non-existent
garbage disposal system, and narrow roads. There were concerns about
environment too. One of the major attractions of Goa is its unique
rurality its ar , chitectural beauty its , thickly-wooded environ, and the
open spaces with clear divisions of land into agricultural, horticultural
and settlement zones. International and Indian tourists come to Goa to
enjoy this very special blend of nature, architectural traditions and a
quaint urbanity that sets Goan villages apart from their counterparts in
India or elsewhere. This is particularly true of villages like Carmona
which are well-visualised in terms of space conceptualization and are
blessed with huge green tracts.
The plans for the project submitted for approval to the Town and Country
Planning (TCP) were acquired under the RTI Act by the fearless and upright
Orlando Da Silva, one of the seven-member village panchayat body A heated
gram sabha . meeting in December 2007 had to be hastily adjourned
inconclusively as violence , marred the proceedings. Not to be outdone,
the villagers formed a Carmona Citizens' Forum and drew up a memorandum to
oppose the project. A signature campaign resulted in 80 per cent of the
households signing against it. Of course, there was the small coterie of
villagers who argued that the project would bring development to the
village. But for the Forum, development itself had become a debatable
term.
Sensing the people's mood, the builder subsequently submitted revised
plans. The new plan envisaged building 71 'villas which, quaintly, were
four-storied stilted structures with an internal lift and eight car parks.
Each building had a plunge pool too. So, the project as a whole was to
house 93 private (plunge) and public (swimming) pools and 71 lifts.
Imagine all this in a village which does have a single private pool or a
public pool either, and suffers from water scarcity.
The lack of guide lines for the 'development of rural areas' have created
fears that urban developers are replicating city structures which would
destroy the unique architectural flavour of Goa. It is time that govern
ments ensure that architects assigned to visualise 'sensitive' structures
should not only have technical expertise but reflex ive sensibilities to
respect and preserve the culture of a region.
Considering all this, the Carmona Citizens' Forum demanded that the
proposed project be thoroughly discussed in the gram sabha held on March
30, 2008. The meeting was truly extraordinary A posse . of khaki-clad
police constables stood by as the villagers trooped in large numbers,
majority of them women. The meeting soon became chaotic and violent, and
plastic chairs were pitched as weapons, injuring two participants, Volsy
Da Silva and Ms Juliana Da Silva.
Surprisingly, the police who had assembled before the start of the meeting
had quietly disappeared. They had to be recalled after frantic telephone
calls. It was then that villagers started asking questions: Were the
police hand-in-gloves with the developers?
However, the gram sabha meeting succeeded in moving the landmark
memorandum that the project be stalled and the file be recalled from the
TCP offices within seven days. Moreover, it was decided that the incumbent
and the future sarpanches would not approve any mega projects without
people's consent.
After the meeting, Juliana da Silva said: "We need not stop development
but as a people we can certainly give it shape and direction in a manner
that suits and enriches our lives, not destroys them." Her head was
throbbing from the injuries she had sustained earlier in the meeting, and
there were deep marks on her breasts too." Yet Julie, as everyone knows
her, walked fearless. "What are a few injuries if I can save my village! I
would do it again if other threats came," she said dabbing a wet towel on
the wound on her head.
Savia Viegas is writer and social activist living in Carmona. Her book,
Tales from the Attic, is set in Carmona. She is completing a sequel to her
earlier work entitled In the Hour of Eclipse.
Photos @
http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/artMailDisp.aspx?article=05_05_2008_019_008&typ=0&pub=264
