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People of Divar are against EDM Festival on their Island

People of Divar are always very reserved or rather very possessive about their island and they do not allow any encroachment on their beautiful island
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People of Divar are always very reserved or rather very possessive about their island and they do not allow any encroachment on their beautiful island by the outsiders,  but recently one of the private company from Bangalore having their offices in Goa is underway to set up the Yacht Club and they also have made the arrangements to organize the rave parties on this island and people of Divar have revolted against this decision. In fact the above activities of this company are somewhat also supported by the Goa government and department of tourism.

According to the available information from the reliable sources, the gram sabha of Goltim-Navelim Panchayat at Divar on Sunday witnessed a huge chaos as the islander were grilling the Sarpanch over this issue and strongly opposed any rave parties or any other sorts of EDM (Electronics Dance Music) festivals on the island. The islanders somehow got the information of the rave party which is planned to happen on 16th August 2015 on their island which may also have the use of drugs. The meeting was dominated by the noisy questions from the “Divarkars” for almost three long hours as the members raised queries and shouted in unity questioning the Sarpanch Prasad Harmalkar over various issues.

The atmosphere remained tense for long time in the packed Fr. Jacome Gonsalves Hall as the agitated members have unanimously resolved to not allow the Yacht Club and any rave party on the Divar Island on the scheduled date; looking at the rage of the members even the Sarpanch Harmalkar took the same tone and assured the members that “We will also not allow EDM music of high decibels to be played on the island.” In fact apparently when the meeting was started one of the members Abhay Raikar asked the sarpanch about the action initiated to stop the rave party on the island and Harmalkar said that the panchayat had no jurisdiction over bunds and areas under CRZ. This leads to generate the huge ripples of disapproval in the hall, villagers got angry and asked as how he issued the NOCs to the club for the activities coming under the CRZ Harmalkar said that he had issued them in good faith, but these were not approvals, which the agency had to obtain from appropriate authorities.

This resulted into further uproar of the crowd for several minutes and members keep shouting in unison, the former Sarpanch Mario Pinto also joined the Raikar and started questioning Harmalkar who keep maintaining that he has to take of both sides and create the balance but villagers pointed out that he had been elected to look after their interests. The members also pointed out that the three NOCs were issued to clear the area, which is in CRZ to lay an access for a pontoon platform in the mangrove area. If the panchayat has no jurisdiction, then NOC should not have been issued, the members said.

Harmalkar said he had issued them in good faith and finally conceded that it was a mistake. Further, he said the NOCs were valid for six months. As the club had not obtained any permission, they are as good as revoked, he stated. Regarding a hut constructed by the club, he said the panchayat had sought to raze it, but the party has obtained a stay on it. He said if the rave party is held, he would inform the police and authorities.

This may be the fine example of how things works in our society, the elected members do not take their voters into the confidence and exercise the power assigned to them without keeping in mind the interest of common man. It is surprising that some company comes out of the blue and starts acquiring the places around in the villages without giving any prior notice to the locals and without taking them into the confidence, this could only lead to agitation and disagreement later on. Why don’t the governments look into the matter and take their own people in confidence before going ahead with any such projects, in fact the same thing has happened in the case of Leading Hotels Pvt. Ltd. in Pernem. Please do leave your most valuable comments and suggestions on this issue.

Source: TNN

Edited by: Goa Prism News Desk     

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