The Times of India: Goa: Sunday,
April 07, 2013.
The residents
of Aronda have urged the people of Goa to support their movement against the
upcoming mining jetty at Aronda in Maharashtra. Aronda locals, who have been
opposing the jetty for the past one year, have formed a 'Aronda Bachao
Sangharsha Samiti' (ABSS) to register their protest.
ABSS, the
organization formed to fight against the pollution-making mining jetty, has
maintained that the jetty if comes up will also destroy the tourism prospects
of the Pernem taluka in Goa.
Notwithstanding
stiff opposition from Goa and Maharashtra, construction work on the mining
jetty at Aronda continues. Villagers of Keri and Paliem in Goa and Aronda in
Maharashtra claim that the work is being undertaken without approvals.
"The
residents and the local MLA should intervene and support our movement against
the jetty it is in the interest of the both the sate," ABSS said in a
press release.
"The
iron ore loading jetty is coming up without permission from any authority in
Maharashtra. Information sought through RTI from the concerned departments
reveals that not a single competent authority has given permissions for a
mining jetty. It's completely illegal as it is in CRZ-I area," ABSS
president Avinash Shirodkar said.
The jetty on
the Maharashtra side of Tiracol River is planned to enable loading of iron ore
onto barges. Villagers around the area on both sides of the border fear that
widening and deepening of the river mouth to facilitate barge movement will
lead to sea water entering the river with greater force endangering those
living on the river banks. They also fear their villages could vanish.
Villagers
said work is presently on at a fast pace and large tracts of land are being
levelled to facilitate ore dumping. Dredging work, locals alleged, happens at
night.
.JPG)
.JPG)
