Carmona Village: Power of collective will

Faced with rampant, mindless development in Goa, a citizens' forum strikes back - Savia Viegas

FUELLED BY a tourism-driven image of Bacchnalian Haven and with 'new money' chasing to acquire a piece of paradise, northern Goa stands denuded of its rich cultural ambience by the imposing walls of apartment complexes.The real estate developers have now been pushing down towards the southern parts of Goa, attracting the second-home seekers to its lush serenity and its snowy white beaches.
Recently the Mumbai-based builder, K Raheja Universal Private Ltd, announced the 'mother of all projects' to build 618 apartments in sleepy Carmona. The company had purchased two large estates called Chulibhat bearing Nos 64\\1 and 67 at Tamdeg ward for a reported consideration of Rs 45 crore.
Three decades of tourism have brought about a plethora of changes in the tiny feudal village of Carmona, situated on the southern coast of Goa and hemmed-in by the large and prosperous villages or quasi-towns of Benaulim and Varca on one side and the popular tourist hinterlands of Cavelossim-Mobor on the other.
With large tracts of land now being acquired to provide luxury housing to the holiday-home buyers, villagers grew concerned about the impending scarcity and the rising land prices. The Raheja project, if allowed to take shape, was increasingly seen as creating havoc by putting tremendous pressure on the existing, rudimentary infrastructure including water resources, electricity roads, garbage disposal and sewage systems, among others.
Like many Goan villages, Carmona has a perennial water problem and the government-supplied pipeline lacks adequate pressure. This is not surprising since the villages along the tourist-favourite, coastal belt compete with the starred hotels which are often the biggest guzzlers of water.
Similarly the village suffers frequent , power breakdowns, non-existent garbage disposal system, and narrow roads. There were concerns about environment too. One of the major attractions of Goa is its unique rurality its architectural beauty its , thickly-wooded environ, and the open spaces with clear divisions of land into agricultural, horticultural and settlement zones. International and Indian tourists come to Goa to enjoy this very special blend of nature, architectural traditions and a quaint urbanity that sets Goan villages apart from their counterparts in India or elsewhere. This is particularly true of villages like Carmona which are well-visualised in terms of space conceptualization and are blessed with huge green tracts.

The plans for the project submitted for approval to the Town and Country Planning (TCP) were acquired under the RTI Act by the fearless and upright Orlando Da Silva, one of the seven-member village panchayat body
A heated gram sabha meeting in December 2007 had to be hastily adjourned inconclusively as violence , marred the proceedings. Not to be outdone, the villagers formed a Carmona Citizens' Forum and drew up a memorandum to oppose the project. A signature campaign resulted in 80 per cent of the households signing against it. Of course, there was the small coterie of villagers who argued that the project would bring development to the village. But for the Forum, development itself had become a debatable term.
Sensing the people's mood, the builder subsequently submitted revised plans. The new plan envisaged building 71 'villas which, quaintly, were four-storied stilted structures with an internal lift and eight car parks. Each building had a plunge pool too. So, the project as a whole was to house 93 private (plunge) and public (swimming) pools and 71 lifts.

Imagine all this in a village which does have a single private pool or a public pool either, and suffers from water scarcity. The lack of guide lines for the 'development of rural areas' have created fears that urban developers are replicating city structures which would destroy the unique architectural flavour of Goa. It is time that governments ensure that architects assigned to visualise 'sensitive' structures should not only have technical expertise but reflexive sensibilities to respect and preserve the culture of a region.
Considering all this, the Carmona Citizens' Forum demanded that the proposed project be thoroughly discussed in the gram sabha held on March 30, 2008. The meeting was truly extraordinary. A posse of khaki-clad police constables stood by as the villagers trooped in large numbers, majority of them women. The meeting soon became chaotic and violent, and plastic chairs were pitched as weapons, injuring two participants, Volsy Da Silva and Ms Juliana Da Silva.
Surprisingly, the police who had assembled before the start of the meeting had quietly disappeared. They had to be recalled after frantic telephone calls. It was then that villagers started asking questions: Were the police hand-in-gloves with the developers?
However, the gram sabha meeting succeeded in moving the landmark memorandum that the project be stalled and the file be recalled from the TCP offices within seven days. Moreover, it was decided that the incumbent and the future sarpanches would not approve any mega projects without people's consent.
After the meeting, Juliana da Silva said: "We need not stop development but as a people we can certainly give it shape and direction in a manner that suits and enriches our lives, not destroys them." Her head was throbbing from the injuries she had sustained earlier in the meeting, and there were deep marks on her breasts too." Yet Julie, as everyone knows her, walked fearless. "What are a few injuries if I can save my village! I would do it again if other threats came," she said dabbing a wet towel on the wound on her head.

Savia Viegas is writer and social activist living in Carmona. Her book, Tales from the Attic, is set in Carmona. She is completing a sequel to her earlier work entitled In the Hour of Eclipse.Photos @http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/artMailDisp.aspx?article=05_05_2008_019_008&typ=0&pub=264