Villagers raise pitch against open air hall project near Verna lake

NT NETWORK

PANAJI

Raising the pitch against the construction of open air wedding and celebration hall and dance floor near ‘Ambulor Lake’ in Verna, villagers of Verna including farmers on Thursday strongly criticised the Verna panchayat for allegedly illegally issuing trade licence to the project despite their strong objection.

The villagers also claimed that Verna’s indigenous community, residing along the banks of this water body, have for generations together held this lake as sacred but the project on the banks of the lake will put the entire ecosystem under severe threat of pollution, silting with the aquifers drying and ultimately leading to the death of the lake and River Sal.

Villagers have organised a public meeting on February 10 at 5 pm in Verna to seek immediate stoppage of all construction activities for the project.

Addressing a joint press conference, a section of Verna villagers along with the executive secretary of Centre for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) Fr Savio Fernandes on Thursday expressed anguish and condemnation of the blatant destruction of the hills, agriculture lands and water bodies being carried out in collusion with government authorities under the pretext of constructing an open air wedding and celebration hall and dance floor on the banks of the lake in Verna.

Judith Rebelo, a Verna resident demanded that the lake be placed under permanent protection by enacting a law and preventing any commercial activity adding, “We also appeal to the village panchayat of Verna and the TCP department to immediately take action against the illegalities in the aforementioned project.”

“The information received by us under the Right to Information Act from the Town and Country Planning Department (TCP), public health centre (PHC) and the Forest Department has revealed gross violations as some permissions were granted only for construction of a residential house, domestic storage shed, toilet block and compound wall and not for any open air hall,” said Fulgencio Cardozo, another villager.

Cardozo said that according to the RTI documents, the proprietor does not have technical clearance from TCP department for any commercial activity along the lake. “Even after a resolution of the gram sabha to send a ‘stop work’ notice to the alleged offender was adopted by majority of the villagers present on November 11, 2018, the sarpanch and concerned panch of the Verna village panchayat have failed to execute the same despite a reminder from the panchayat secretary on November 30, 2018 to the sarpanch,” Cardozo said referring to RTI documents.