Residents claim area designated as green zone
CLEAR-CUT: The area where the trees were cut by a group of labourers near the Raj Bhavan in Dona Paula.
PANAJI
Dozens of residents from Aivao, Marivel Village, and La Marivel Colony gathered near the Raj Bhavan on Sunday to protest what they called the indiscriminate destruction of trees in the green zones around the Governor’s residence.
The protest highlighted rampant deforestation in a dense forest area, designated as a green zone in the old Regional Plan and listed as forest cover in the Taleigao Outline Development Plan (ODP).
Protesters said labourers associated with a nearby bungalow cleared the thick tree cover and planted new trees to create a misleading green boundary, while a road has replaced a traditional forest footpath (pai vatt).
The road leads only to the bungalow, and the rest of the footpath, which used to connect to the village, has been blocked.
“When we confronted the labourers cutting the trees, they immediately fled, which shows there is something fishy,” said Francis Coelho, a local resident and general secretary of AAP Goa.
AAP’s Cecille Rodrigues joined the protest and condemned the silence of the MLAs of Taleigao and Panaji — Atanasio Monserrate and Jennifer Monserrate — on the destruction of the environment in their jurisdiction.
“This silence only highlights their complicity,” Rodrigues said while addressing the protesters.
