BJP started killing Goa the very moment they were elected to power in 2012

By Dr. Claude Alvares

Dr. Claude Alvares

For the past ten years now, Goa has been almost in a permanent state of war. There have been regular invading armies and conquests, mostly originating out of Delhi, or Mumbai, or even Haryana and other places, each biting off slices of Goan villages and the Goa government has in every conceivable case, gone all out to support them.

The political leaders who run this government only come to the villagers when they want their votes.

Look at these simple facts about the new brewery and distillery approved for erection at Amdai, on the banks of the Uguem river -- a depressing repeat of hundreds of similar invasions being fought at Cavelossim, Carmona, Tiracol, etc:

a) The land at Amdai (64,439 sq mts) is purchased in 2013 by Vani Agro Farms, registered in Delhi, headed by Guptas and Jains, for the sum of Rs.2,39,71,308 (Rs.2.4 crores) from Anselm Furtado and Sheryl Furtado, living at Chouquivaddo,

Carmona. The adjoining plot of 60,000 sq.mts is also bought up by the same group, so now the total land acquired is 1,24,439 sq.mts. Vani Agro applies to Canara Bank for a loan of 43 crores.

b) The land is zoned as orchard in the regional plan, because it has magnificent spread of coconut and cashew trees. The new owners claim in a media interview that the Tree Act. being amended to exclude coconut trees, they do not need permission to mass-kill the trees on the plots.

c) According to the project report, there is 'plentiful water' to produce 5 lakh hecto litres of beer. There is simply no acknowledgement that the water belongs to - and has been hitherto sustainably enjoyed by - the people living in the area. The water, in fact, belongs to them since they have been using it for decades.

Locals protesting against the distillery, Congress and independent politicos lending
pseudo support.

d) The company applies for permission to extract 506 m3 daily from the Uguem river on 11.11.2013. This is granted by the Water Resources Department on 26.11.2013, in less than 15 working days. The Uguem river today is the only source of water for hundreds of ordinary Goan villagers for all the primary needs ranging from drinking to washing clothes. (Ironically, at this very moment, the Goa government is fighting the Karnataka government which wants to divert the waters of the Madei river to provide drinking water to Hubli and other Karnataka cities!)

e) The company applies for a public health clearance on 29.7.2013. The PHC certificate is promptly issued by Dr. Vinod Naik, Goan Health Officer, on 31.7.2013.
f) The company applies for an NOC from the Sanguem Municipal Council on 18.7.2013 and, lo and behold, a provisional NOC  is issued by Goan Chief Officer, Pramod V. Desai, on 26.7.2013 (within one week). The CO does not consult the elected council. He issues the certificate on his own.

g) The company applies for Town Planning permission. However, even before the TCP can consider the proposal, the new Goa Public Investment Board approves the proposal on 16/01/2015 and at two further meetings held on 17/6/2015 and  6/10/2015. The officers or people at the Public Investment Board who approved this file include Martin Ghosh, Nitin Kunkoliencar, Atul Pai Kane and some functionaries including the CM.

When ordinary Goans approach the same bodies for similar permissions or approvals, they are made to run around coconut trees. Now even that may not be possible, because at Amdai, more than 1,000 coconut trees will be cut to produce liquor and beer for tourists and other elements, as if they haven't already drunk themselves senseless.

No further comment, I believe, is necessary.

Similar scenario was repeated earlier at Tiracol as well, where the entire village lost 12,12,000 sq mts out of 13,84,000 sq.mts for a golf course again by another Delhi party, the Jatias, through Leading Hotels. The CM has been openly backing that project as well.

Got the message? Want more cases?

Competent Automobiles (Maruti-Suzuki dealers from (Delhi) have purchased prime beach area in Cavelossim even though the village and panchayat say they do not want another five-star hotel in their midst. At Baga, huge illegal constructions         put up at La Calypso, had to be finally demolished because of court orders. The owner of La Calypso is from Delhi. Who allowed him to build and exploit the illegal structures for years? The answer is blowing in the wind.

So it is time we scrapped the pretence of having become an independent State in 1987. We were ruled from New Delhi from 1961-1987. After 1987, our new landlords are also coming from Delhi while 12,000 Goans have acquired Portuguese passports.

As Alfred E. Neuman from MAD magazine used to say in my kid days in the mid 1960s: "Something funny is going on here!"