Appoint 12-member panel to pursue proposal with depts
Pomburpa-Olaulim Sarpanch Leopoldina Noronha during the gram sabha of the village on Sunday. Other panchayat members and panchayat secretary were also present.
Photo Credits: Agnelo Pereira
MAPUSA
The locals of Pomburpa-Olaulim have reiterated its demand to get the famed Pomburpa spring declared as a bio-diversity heritage site and formed a 12-member committee to go through the rigours of obtaining a heritage status for the spring.
The villagers, however, did not want the local panchayat to take over the spring from the department of tourism.
A resident of the village, Alvito D’Silva informed the gram sabha on Sunday that there was a procedure to be followed to get a site declared as heritage zone.
“The 12-member committee has to prepare a report and hand it over to the concerned departments which will study the proposal before it is allotted the heritage status. Several springs in the State are dying. The villagers should come forward to protect our Pomburpa spring,” D’Silva said.
Some locals suggested that the spring should be taken over from the department of tourism and handed back to the local panchayat for maintenance. But most of the villagers disagreed with the idea.
“We do not want to take over the spring. I don’t think the panchayat will be able to maintain it,” said Gokuldas Halarnkar, former sarpanch and present panchayat member.
A decade back, the department of tourism had taken over the popular Pomburpa spring and developed it as a tourism spot. Around Rs 1 crore was spent to beautify the entire area including construction of a changing room.
However, over the years the department failed to maintain the spot.
The light fixtures were either broken or not functioning, the changing room was without power and thrash was found thrown all around at the site.
The water of the spring is considered to have medicinal properties and therefore people from many parts of the State visit the spring especially during the summer.
The gram sabha also decided that the Pomburpa-Olaulim panchayat should follow-up on the issue of stray cattle with the gaushala at Mayem.
“The panchayat had signed a memorandum of understanding with the gaushala whereupon the impounded stray cattle would be handed over to the gaushala at Mayem,” said Michael Fernandes, a local resident.
The gram sabha urged the panchayat to follow up the matter of setting up of the material recovery facility (MRF) with the Olaulim comunidade.
The panchayat had identified a site to construct the MRF and the proposal was sent to the Olaulim comunidade for approval.
