GROUND FILLING IN COLVA by Sebastian B. Mesquita, Colva

This first part is the letter written to the Herald by the Colva Civic Forum

The proposed ground at Colva in front of the Church is an ill-conceived project. More than 31,000 sq metres of low-lying land has been acquired, without a plan in place. Development is needed, but one cannot ignore damage to the environment and other consequences.

Site at Sluice Gate

Approval for land acquisition has been obtained by distorting facts It was claimed that no water course or drainage channel exists at the site. This is false. Water from nullahs 1km north, and half a km east and west discharge water into these fields.

The BDO has approved the playground citing the lack of one in the village. But there is a playground near Colva beach. It was built after reclaiming paddy fields, but is rarely used for sports and more for car parking and the night bazaar!

Site to be rec

Rain water used to be harvested at the proposed site. Documents of the Comunidade of Colva reveal that the last time the sluice gate was built was in 1977. I was a student of Infant Jesus High School and have vivid memories, the ‘tollem’ used to be adorned with beautiful water flowers and visited by migratory birds. There would be water from October till March, recharging the village wells.

The sluice gate can still be built and will cost just a few thousand rupees, but no one is interested as it is a very small amount; no kickbacks. Nowadays there is water scarcity at so many places. But, rather than preserving and continuing this simple, time tested and cost-effective method of water harvesting, we are destroying it.

The project proposes to fill the land to a height of half a metre. This will require a huge quantity of soil, which will most probably come from hill cutting. It will create two ecological disasters. Looking at the unscrupulous means used to get approval, one can only conclude that this project is meant basically to misappropriate public funds by deceiving the public that it is for ‘development’.

The above letter appeared in the letter to the editor of June 22, 2010.

Pursuing the matter further, the drainage plans submitted by th panchayat to TCP were studied. The plans showed that the land was to be filled to a height of 2 meters. This was in violation of the approval that was given for filling the land to a height of ½ meters.

The plan consisted of three drainage channels of 1.5 meters width on both the sides and one in the middle. I just cannot understand based on what data have they drawn this plans. I have sought details under RTI for information based on which these plans were drawn.

It was only the untiring effort of The Colva Civic Forum led by Judith Almeida that thwarted the attempt of these unscrupulous elements. The saga of the Colva Ground is a tale of utter contempt for rule of Law and greed. This only underscores the need for citizens to be vigilant.

The only way these rampant violation of rule of law can be stooped, is by citizens organizing themselves, attending gram sabhas, using RTI Act to obtain information, filing objections and if every effort fails to even take legal course of action.

(for life size pictures and more clear view please click: http://nizgoenkar.blogspot.com/p/colva-land-filling-photos.html)