Goa News: Builder Lobby, Delhi Hotelier Eyeing Bondvol Lake Property, Alleges Activist

PANAJI: Panaji-based social activist and short film maker Sachin de Souza Fernandes has alleged that the builder lobby has been eyeing the properties surrounding the Bondval lake.

In a telephonic interview with this reporter, he revealed that a huge sum of money has exchanged hands and some local goondas including two prominent individuals are involved in the conspiracy to ‘grab’ the ‘lake view property’.

In fact, there were complaints by residents of St Cruz that the water level this year was lower than normal, suggesting that either water was leaking out or there was some tampering in the system, he said, adding that the Panchayat and the comunidade authorities turned a deaf ear to the complaints.

“There is a powerful Delhi hotelier who has created a ruckus in Calangute who has tied up with a few local builders and intents to build a huge premium gated complex in the vicinity of the lake,” Fernandes said.

“I have been receiving threatening calls over the last one year, when I first spoke up about the builder lobby eyeing Bondval lake area,” he alleged.

While the Calapur comunidade has alleged that the water of the hilltop Bondvol lake at Vhoddlem Bhat, Santa Cruz, was drained by tampering with a valve that was being operated by the water resources department (WRD), some residents who spoke to this website have alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched for the last few months.

According to a Times of India report, in a complaint to the Old Goa police, comunidade president Vincent Fernandes said that the valve is opened for release of water only when the lake is overflowing.

The comunidade office bearers and villagers were surprised last month-end after a site visit showed that almost the entire water body had been emptied in an act of mischief.

The involvement of some WRD officials and other members of the locality is not ruled out and residents have expressed their doubts about the entire incident.

The Goa State Wetland Authority had notified the water body as a wetland considering its ecosystem services and biodiversity values for local communities and society. A buffer zone of 200m had also been mooted for its protection. “The water body exists even prior to the Portuguese regime and there is sufficient evidence in that
regard,” the president said.

The water stored throughout the year provided ecological services, as the groundwater level in the surrounding area remains high. “It is used for many purposes by the comunidade and villagers,” the comunidade’s special attorney Peter Gonsalves said. “Public works department had taken a no objection certificate from our comunidade as part of a plan to start a water treatment plant at the lake,” was quoted by the Times of India as saying.