Locals oppose Baga hill destruction at Arpora meet

NT NETWORK

ARPORA

Speaker after speaker lambasted authorities at the Arpora Baga meeting for bypassing rules and regulations and not taking locals into confidence in constructing a road on the Baga hill by cutting trees which will benefit the builder lobby.

The meeting was called by the villagers of Arpora Baga, Calangute Constituency Forum, Centre for Responsible Tourism and Social Action team to oppose the 10-metre road being constructed illegally on the hill to benefit the builder lobby.

Historian Prajal Sakhardande while addressing the gathering said that builders from outside the state are buying land only because Goa is green and tourists are coming to Goa because of its natural beauty. However, the Goan heritage is being destroyed.

Calangute constituency forum chairman Premanand Divkar showed a presentation to the people how the hill was destroyed to construct a road to benefit the builder lobby. Even when the forest department inspected the hill more than 1000 trees were being cut and burnt in communidade land on survey no 267 and 253.

A panch member of the Arpora village panchayat Vidhyadar Divkar who stood by the villagers objected to the illegal road and said that he will stand by the villagers and not allow any illegal road or construction to take place on the Baga hill.

Anna De Mello, a tenant of the communidade land who was at the forefront of the protest spoke and welcomed the gathering.