The Challenge of Saving Goa: The case of Canaguinim
By Percy Ferrao
It has now become a norm in Goa, wherever open land is visible (land already a
scarce commodity), that the draconian law of acquisition is carried out with
impunity by allegedly corrupt politicians in league with rapacious builders and
unscrupulous public servants, for the construction of mega housing colonies and
other destructive development, with the barest respect to maintaining setbacks,
sewerage and proper roads. Huge tracts of land are acquired for a pittance or
compensation never paid to poor farmers and backward communities who are
unaware of their rights.
The land thus acquired is surplus to what is required for the projects so the
excess is reported to be sold on to greedy builders to build shopping and
housing complexes. Land records have been distorted and even the thumb
impressions of the dead have been fudged and forged, and there have been
instances where landlords have become tenants, and vice-versa, overnight.
I had the opportunity of meeting Fr Henry, the parish priest of St. Sebastian
Church, Canaguinim, for the past three years, at the GOA festival in London, A
devout person, Fr Henry sees the villages of Canaguinim, Nuem and Cabo de Rama
as scenic, serene, unpolluted and
peaceful. But with no schools or even a primary health centre, and an erratic
power and water supply, their inhabitants have migrated to cities for better
education facilities for their children and those living in the village have
their children travelling more than 20 km everyday to school and colleges.
When the villagers of Betul-Naqueri passed resolutions in the Gram Sabha
recently to altogether scrap the Food Park project, in spite of fierce
resistance from the authorities, they are stumped as to why the land acquired
using the urgency clause (the clause is designed to be used only in case of
earthquake or natural disaster) for the food park’s auxillary service has not
been returned to its rightful owners.
A large part of this land is agricultural, the owners being mostly from the
backward class communities who have toiled hard for generations to undertake
the cultivation of coconut and other fruit trees, and who have been miserably
compensated. The information accessed under RTI indicates that the auxiliary
services for the Food
Park project are related to real estate development.
According to information obtained, the company wishes to set up club houses,
apartments, villas, resorts, malls, BPO and IT/BTS plots.
There is hardly any mention of any food processing units! The development, with
the attendant huge influx of migrants, will have an adverse effect on the
social, cultural and environmental situation, putting more stress on the
already overburdened infrastructure like power, transport, sewerage system and
garbage which is already a monstrous issue in other parts of Goa. The prime
land acquired by the GIDC must be given back to its rightful owners. Any major
project, if it is to enjoy local consent, needs first to undergo a thorough
preliminary study, to be presented to the local panchayat or government for
evaluation. Where, though, is the
feasibility study that shows, at the very least, that there really are all
those unemployed Goan youth who are trained, qualified and prepared for such
projects?
Despite huge cash offers running in lakhs to dissuade Fr Henry from
spearheading the opposition, he and the villagers of Canaguinim stand resolute
in their campaign to see such disastrous projects scrapped. Fr Henry is a
Manglorean, yet has Goa in his heart. He says that if
the government is serious about developing the village and its inhabitants it
should first build schools and other educational institutions, primary health
centres, hospitals and other, non-polluting cottage industries which will
employ the local people.
He cites, as an example of what is going wrong, the ONGC (Offshore Natural Gas
Company), which has acquired 22 acres of prime, sea-facing land in Canaguinim,
where locals are yet to find employment even after more than 15 years. The
central government has been serious in razing down illegal structures within
the CRZ zone, and yet the state government is bent on constructions in the
Betul/Canaguinim coastal areas.
The residents of Betul, Naqueri and Canaguinim have already been having
problems in finding land to build dwellings for themselves as a result of
expanding families, and in such a situation our politicians are acquiring the
already scarce land for destructive development.
Electricity and water are commodities that have been already stretched to the
limit and an overload will most certainly will cause a total collapse of the
infrastructure.
Twenty years ago, our state politicians kept junketing off to Singapore for
ideas and inspirations to make Goa another Singapore, a model state in India.
But today we are witnesses to lop-sided development, degradation to our
environment, increase in crime, huge unemployment and our fields and rivers
being used to dump our garbage
and sewage.
The underground water has been polluted in the neighbouring village of Cuncolim
due to hazardous industries, and recently there was an explosion of gas
cylinders, where several of the employees were seriously injured. Can our
politicians take remedial steps in making
Betul-Nuem-Canaguinim-Cabo de Rama model villages of Goa?
The agitation by the villagers of Canaguinim, and the holding of Gram Sabhas,
to fight unwanted projects, has encouraged villagers from Benaulim and Colva,
whose environment is under heavy pressure from greedy builders, politicians, in
their efforts to keep the Panchayat in check and to curb mega housing and other
projects. To save Goa today, every village which is now under similar pressure
must follow suit, and bring the errant ministers, panchayat members and greedy
builders to book. Today, jealousy and greed are rife within the Goan community.
Many NGOs have sprung up overnight. Some have been silenced; some have been
frustrated by legal delays; some have been beset by the clash of egos between
colleagues within the same NGO; of by close fraternity of some with corrupt
ministers and public servants. These factors make the task of saving Goa a
great challenge indeed!
- END -
______________________________________
Quaere verum (Seek the truth)
