To Goanet - I wasn't going to post any more pictures or documents of the ruin of Goa. However, less than a month ago, I had put in an RTI application with the North Goa Collector's office, and yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to receive the information asked in the exact format requested. A summary of the land conversion data for North Goa was sought and the Collector furnished it for the period 2005, 2006, 2007 and the first 3 months of 2008. The contents are startling.
North Goa comprises the talukas of Pernem, Bicholim, Sattari, Bardez, Tiswadi and Ponda. I produce below just one page for your delectation. It relates to the section on Tiswadi. http://www.parrikar.org/images/samples/rti-northgoa.jpg Some highlights: - Suresh V. Parulekar: 2,20,000 sq metres at Carambolim on November 29, 2007. - Casa Grande Developers Pvt Ltd: 3,26,350 sq metres at Goltim on Jan 3, 2008. - Trinity Land Bose Pvt Ltd: 73,032 sq metres at Goltim on on Jan 3, 2008. - Good Earth Real Estate Developers: 68,336 sq metres at Baiganim on Jan 25, 2008. Bardez has the highest number - 402 - of applications for conversions during the period. Sattari has the least (3), but that could change if the new Regional Plan opens up the hinterland areas for settlement. This is damning evidence for my conclusion stated here on Goanet several times: the Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) has been a cruel, flatulent joke on the Goan people. While the heroes and heroines of GBA were supposedly saving us, Goa was being taken to the cleaners by the real estate mafia. Why did not the GBA demand in early 2007 that all conversions be frozen until the advent of the new Regional Plan? Why is the GBA quiet NOW? Why could not the GBA get all this information I have gotten and place it before the Goan people? The real estate mafia, with the help of the media (just take a look at the editors and journalists who keep telling us that the unity of GBA is "paramount") has taken Goans for a ride by propping up the toothless and compromised GBA. The Margao Concrete Pastry King (as Soter D'Souza calls him) must be a satisfied man given how effective his men planted in the GBA have been in furthering the real estate lobby's cause. Great job, GBA. Thank you for NOTHING. ps: I will see if copies of these RTI pages can be made available to the general public. pps: Some months back, I had approached the editors of 3 dailies (2 English and 1 Marathi) proposing that they run my photographs (for free) of the construction and hill-cutting mayhem perhaps twice a week for 4 weeks. None of them took me up on the offer. That should tell you who is in bed with whom. Incidentally, that only spurred me into making "The Rape of Goa" documentary. Warm regards, r
