In Candolim at Sinquerim, today at 11.30 AM a special meeting was
called by the people from Calangute Constituency to protest over the Hill
Cutting at Sinquerim and also a big number of Trees to pave the way for the owner
to construct different type of structures without getting any license from any
of the government machineries as disclosed by the organisers of this meet. The response for this meet was heavy as seen
from the attendance of the people mainly from Candolim, Sinquerim, Calangute
and elsewhere from the constituency. It
was a strong show of solidarity with the people of Sinquerim by all those
supporters of this move who came voluntarily to indicate their disgust over the
tricky way by the owner of to convert the whole area into a total concrete jungle and that too without any license from any of the government
authorities.
Seen above a large number of attendees.
It is surprising how that owner gathered such a powerful courage to go
thus far without any license, it is unthinkable. Speaking to this writer, one constituent who
suffered from his Sarpanch in particular and Pachayat in general inspite of
having all the necessary approvals from the respective authorities to construct
his own house because he refused to give the bribe in the form of money and sex
to his local Sarpanch, said it is not possible for the owner to move ahead in this
manner without performing illicit acts.
Seen above one section of the people
Speaker after speaker from the galaxy of them chosen carefully after analyzing
their knowledge over this subject, spoke louder and louder to warn not only the
owner but also those responsible to give their silent nod for the owner
possibly in return for the heavy bribe, as described by one of the speakers.
Seen above addressing the meet is Prem Divkar
Sachin the local acitivist from Candolim compeered the Meet. Damian
another activist from Candolim in his speech exposed the local authority of
closing its eyes for such a gigantic project and he further questioned how they
can say that they are not aware of this illegalitiy going on just below their
nose when the locals even when they build a small settlement in the form of “Khomptti”
touching their houses are stopped. One
of the speakers even questioned “where is the Panch member of Sinquerim
gone? Is he gone blind that he is unable
to see such colossal blunder in his kingdom?
Prakash from Pilerne Forum who is a firebrand speaker in his normal way
spoke so forcefully and demanded justice in Sinquerim. He questioned at one particular point the
role of local MLA. Incidentally, one of
the speakers asked, where are our elected representatives gone now, why they
boycotted this meet? As representatives
of the local people they should have been present for this meet to show their
solidarity with the people of Sinquerim and others who congregated there at
Sinquerim.
Another firebrand speaker and activist of all Goa stature asked the
local people not to surrender in this fight and gave some clues how to move
ahead to get the final victory.
Among others the Ex MLA of
Calangute Agnelo Fernandes and the prominent Leader of Calangute Joseph
Sequeira were present for this meet and the latter even spoke a few words
before winding the proceedings.
A>Veronica Fernandes.
