Goa villages oppose realty projects,fear demographic imbalance

 Fearing change in demographics of their native places, resident of several villages in South Goa's Salcete tehsil are protesting against the real estate projects proposed in their areas.

The issue once again gained prominence after a sarpanch resigned, after the villagers pressed for a relook at a proposed housing project.

Lavita Dias, Sarpanch of Carmona village, located about 45 km from here in South Goa, resigned yesterday from her post after the villagers demanded that a special gram sabha be held to decide on a Group Housing Project planned by Mumbai-based Raheja Universal Limited (RUL).

The special gram sabha, which was scheduled for the coming Sunday, was cancelled as the panchayat members were worried about mob fury against them.

"We had referred the demand to hold special gram sabha to the Block Development Officer(BDO), Salcette. The BDO is yet to give the approval," Carmona's deputy sarpanch Orlando Da Silva told PTI.

The 56-year-old village representative, who was once a face of the village's anti-mega housing project protests, was now being blamed for siding with the builders.

"The initial fight was against Raheja's plans for 750 dwelling units, but now they have brought it down to only 88 bungalows," Silva said.

"All the government agencies have permitted the construction. I am with the villagers but we can't do much as the permissions are in place," he further said.

The construction work of the project, which is planned over 88,000 square metres of the village land, has not yet started.

Residents fears that the execution of the project would mean that they would become a "minority in their own village".

"The worst fear is that the village with 3,700 voting population will have another 3,000 outsiders added to it. There would be a demographic change. We would be reduced to minority in our own village," Serafino Cotta, a local, who owns a hotel in the village, said.

He further said, the company (RUL) had initially planned project in 2007, but they deferred it after protests. Again, through backdoor, they have managed to get into the village. "This time they are saying that the dwellings are bungalows."

If people don't want a project, it should not be allowed to come up, he added.
RUL Associate Vice President Kamal Khemani, while talking to reporters in Margao town in South Goa earlier this week, had asserted that the project will have no adverse impact on the village.

"We are having environment-friendly and self-sustaining development to avoid undue pressure on existing infrastructure," he said.

The realtor claimed that they have received all the requisite permissions from the authorities like the Goa State Pollution Control Board and state's Town and Country Planning department for the project.

While Carmona residents are up in arms against this project, several other villages in Salcete have already seen massive projects changing the face of the villages.

"The projects have come up in places like Benaulim, Colva, Raia, St Joe de Areal and others, where the ethnic population has been reduced to a minority," Cotta rued.

He said the land in these villages are in demand because  they are closer to the beaches, with several people building their second homes in these serene villages.