Carmona villagers say no to eco-tourism project

Carmona: Saying  a ‘loud no’ to an agro-based eco-tourism project, villagers of Carmona on Sunday unanimously opposed the change in zone in their village from mangroves, water bodies and low-lying paddy fields to settlement fearing severe impact on the ecology of the area.

At the gram sabha held on Sunday, a large number of villagers raised their objections to the eco-tourism project.

The project,  which comes up on  90,000 square metre of land under  the survey number 80/1-4 and 77/1, entails the change of zone from mangroves, water bodies and paddy fields to settlement zone.

The objections enunciated in a 10-point resolution point to an ecological disaster in the village.

“Forty-five per cent of the village is in settlement zone while the rest are fields, water bodies and khazans. There are mangroves along the entire riverbank. The mangroves protect the riverbank from soil erosion by high tides. The marshy land and low-lying paddy fields act as reservoirs for storing water when there is heavy rainfall. The objected change is bound to put the villagers’ lives at high risk in the future,” gram sabha member Savio Fernandes said.

The villagers held that the change in zone will destroy the scenic beauty of the Sal river, and will also destroy the natural habitat of birds and wild animals, mangroves and other flora and fauna.

The project will worsen the existing problems of sewage, garbage and pollution, they said.

Anton D’Silva, a villager, said the project will spell doom   to flora and fauna of the village.

“It is my suggestion that a member of the biodiversity board should come to our village, study the impact such a project would have on our village and submit a report with our objections to the TCP Board,” D’Silva said.

Carmona sarpanch Allwyn Jorge told the gram sabha that the panchayat body had earlier last month filed its objections on the project with the TCP as well as met with TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai.

The sarpanch said that other issues were not discussed at the gram sabha owing to the prevailing poll code, but deliberations on the project were taken up as the last day for filing objections to the TCP Board is April 28.

Meanwhile, the gram sabha discussed, approved and passed the budget for the year 2019-20.