Vanxim village up for grabs 2010-08-11 By Miguel Braganza
No one is telling the story of Vanxim as it is. The Church is NOT 'selling' the land to a 'Bangalore based Developer'. The Estate Officer of the Archdiocese, acting on the Power of Attorney of the Archbishop, has already SOLD the rights to the land to a Goa-based broker.
He in turn has sold it to a Bangalore-registered company for arguably many times the value at which he bought the rights from the Archdiocese of Goa and its subsidiary institution that has the right to the said land.
The Goa broker has also given a commitment to finish the work of CONVERSION left incomplete by the Patriach of the East Indies (P.I.O.). The conversion from agriculture to "settlement zone" for housing and possibly to "Other Industries", including hospitality.
Hospitality includes hotels, golf clubs, marinas and the like. I have just seen what this kind of "development" can do ... looking at paragliders below me, sitting on the 21st floor balcony of a hotel right on a sandy beach in Penang, Malaysia. The hotel was appropriately called "Paradise." Paradise Lost was more appropriate, I thought.
(Miguel Braganza is Joint Secretary, Goa Bachao Abhiyan) http://www.targetgoa.com/newsd-Vanxim-village-up-for-grabs-868
