Red gash in Curca's green hillside pains villagers

PANAJI: Villagers in Curca are upset over the massive excavation on a steep hill slope in recent weeks, alleging that the authorities have shown apathy in monitoring the work at the site after permitting the project.

The red opening in the green hill is prominent from the Curca bridge. "The cutting is massive and levelling is done by bulldozers and other heavy machinery in area under survey no 39/5 and the hillside looks like a mining site against a green backdrop," a local resident said.

Some locals kept quiet after work started in May, 2013. "We were informed that approvals had been issued, but it is doubtful whether authorities would permit such massive digging," the resident added.

But other residents, especially Anthony Cardoz, Manguesh Kuttikar and Leena Narvekar complained to authorities, and offences were registered by them.

The forest department had booked an offence against the developer for felling more than 40 trees of partly forest species in violation of the Forest Protection Act, 1980. Some were even buried in the soil.

The illegal felling and levelling had been carried out by a bulldozer. The flying squad inspected the site and passed it off as a surface clearing and not hill-cutting.

The villagers, including zilla panchayat member Suresh Palkar demanded that no development should be allowed on the slope with a steep gradient. Agreed Kuttikar, "It is so steep that even vehicles will find it difficult to climb uphill and that is why housing should not be allowed," he said.

A public road along the foot of the slope has been allegedly damaged to lay a 'kutcha' road to the property.

The Regional Plan (RP) 2021 shows the whole hill as a settlement area. But villagers point out the RP 2021 has to be sent by the town and country planning (TCP) department to the panchayat for correction of errors. "A lot of area shown as settlement has to be marked as orchard or forest," Kuttikar said.

But a TCP official said the change of zone has already been approved. "The project has been already approved a long time ago," he said. When pointed out that the digging is beyond the permissible limit that TCP approves, he denied it, but did not elaborate further. Villagers said the flying squad declined to carry out a fresh inspection, as TCP had permitted the change of land use. The revenue department had also issued a sanad on the basis of the TCP department's recommendation.

The occupants of Azad co-operative housing society also complained to the authorities. "The deep hill cutting along our compound wall poses a serious threat to the houses. The noise and dust pollution from the heavy machinery disturbs us," a resident said. "We are afraid that massive excavation of earth and lateritic rock may cause landslides," another resident added.