The deeply forested village of Loutolim in Salcete taluka of south Goa is on its way to becoming a mega transit zone for vehicles coming from Mormugao Port Trust to Karnataka, with the construction of a 40m wide, about 3km long “missing link – four lane highway”, slicing through a forest hill and paddy fields of the village. The project, in the pipeline since 2008, lacks transparency of purpose.

Originally published in two parts in Goa Herald
Part I: https://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa-News/South-Goa/The-links-Loutolikars-will-find-missing-Its-forests-hills-and-wildlife/124298.html
Part II: https://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa-News/South-Goa/Loutolim-to-miss-plenty-if-so-much-is-taken-away-for-the-missing-link/124584.html

“Look madam, there is going to be a big, busy ring road type terminal here,” a security guard at Loutolim’s “missing link” construction site told me. “They are making a grand road here, it will go all the way to the other side of the hill. Ever since the new government has come, Goa has only seen progress,” he said.

From a distance, it looks like a thick red line, almost like blood, snaking down from the top of a steep, deep green hill. The line strips bare a dense forest, full of aged indigenous trees and home to several species of animals and birds, including leopards. It continues down the hill, and sits on top of a low lying paddy field. This thick red line is over 40m wide, and takes up over 5 hectares of forest and khazan land.

HOW TO DESTROY A FOREST: THE STEPS

The National Highway 17 (NH17) is a 1269km road running parallel to the sea coast, connecting ports in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. The NH17A is a bifurcation of NH17, connecting Mormugao Port to NH17 at Cortalim. The NH17B stretches between Ponda and Vasco, providing the missing east-west connection between the Port and Karnataka state.

March 2007: According to a March 2007 report titled “Mormugao Port Trust – Preparation of a Business Plan”, “a 3km stretch between Verna and Ponda had not been constructed due to land acquisition problems,” and as a result “the entire port traffic has to pass through Vasco town to Mormugao from both NH17A AND NH17B.” Due to this, “construction of missing link between Varnapuri and Sada and Verna and Ponda are of immediate necessity.”

The tranquil village of Loutolim falls between Verna and Ponda.

Activists received a series of correspondence through RTIs, revealing nearly 83000 sq.m of land was acquired by the PWD Division XIV officials of the Government of Goa on 14th August 2008, under Section 16 of Special Land Acquisition Act 1894. The land was a mix of a private forest and khazan, lying between Verna Industrial estate and Angdi in Loutolim.

The possession certificate mentions that the land was being acquired for construction of a “missing link – a four lane highway” of the NH 17B in Loutolim village of Verna Industrial Estate.

All forest land, whether government or privately owned, falls under the jurisdiction of the state’s forest department. All agencies require an NOC from the forest department before starting any work that requires felling of trees.

On 16th October 2014, the Executive Engineer of PWD XIV sent a letter to the Deputy Conservator of Forests in south Goa, requesting permission to cut trees in the 5.18 ha region of Loutolim “standing on the alignment of the road, required to be cut before starting the work.”

The Forest Department’s inspection files reveal that this area had over 1100 trees, out of which 23 were forest tree species and about 8 non-forest, including teak and mango trees.

“The land was under prospective private forest land, belonging to the South Goa Forest Committee,” explained Anil Shetgaonkar, Deputy Conservator of Forests, South Goa.

Activists representing local non-profit Rainbow Warriors sent a letter to the forest department requesting them to not allow permission for felling of trees as the area was an ecologically important forest with natural aquifers that recharged the ground water table, and several sightings of birds and animals like leopards in the region.

In a letter dated 5th September 2015, addressed to the executive engineers of PWD Division 14, the Deputy Conservator stated that the area was forestry in nature, and suggested to submit a file for approval under Section 2 of Forest Conservation Act 1980.

Section 2 of Forest Conservation Act 1980 allows an agency to use forest land for non-forest purposes, with the approval of the Central Government.

In an internal letter dated 28th October 2016, the Dy. Conservator of Forests, south Goa division, told the Dy. Conservator of Forests, Monitoring and Evaluation that the forestry patch possesses environmental and socio economic value, and that the proposed road construction could lead to soil erosion, as the area was a slope, and would also cause habitat fragmentation, thus damaging the ecology of the region.

In February 2017, the Central Ministry of Forests, Environment and Climate Change (MOEFCC) sent a letter to Goa’s secretary of Forests, approving Stage 1 of the clearance under Section 2 of Forest Conservation Act. The decision was based on the 17th meeting of the Regional Empowerment Committee of the MOEFCC on 25th January 2017 based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. According to the minutes of the meetings, it was decided that since the land was acquired by the PWD several years ago, they will go ahead with the project. The apprehensions of ecological damage “will be offset with suitable mitigation measures” some of which included, “building a wall to prevent soil erosion” and “fencing regions.”

On 29th August 2017, the MOEFCC gave Goa state government the final permission for diversion of 5.18 ha of forest land in Loutolim village for the construction of the “missing link.”

REPLACING FOREST LAND WITH FOREST LAND?

The same letter also stated that a “compensatory afforestation shall be raised over 5.18 ha of identified non-forest land in Sy. No 23/1 in Rumbrem village of Sangem Taluka at the cost of the user agency.”

Compensatory afforestation happens when a forest land is diverted under Section 2 of Forest Conservation Act 1980. The agency using the land for non-forest purpose is supposed to, with the help of the state’s forest department, identify a non-forest land of equal measure and provide appropriate funds for its afforestation.

However, the 5.2 ha land identified in Rumbrem village, sy 23/1, is already a regarded as a forested region, with thick vegetation, and fully formed canopies. On a field visit, activist and forest expert Abhijeet Prabhudesai identified over 25 types of indigenous trees and a number of fruit bearing trees.

In a telephone conversation, Mr. Shetgaonkar said, “It could have thick vegetation, and afforestation is not compulsory. Once it comes under Forest Department we will conserve it.”

Compensatory afforestation on forest land is a violation of guidelines under Forest Conservation Act 1980.

The construction contract was assigned to a private contractor M/s M. Venkat Rao Infra Projects Pvt. Ltd (MVR) under Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) mode, tendered at Rs. 139 crores. The Design consultants of the project is Vasco based outfit Madhav Kamat & Associates.

The work in Loutolim began on 19th September 2017.

LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

“It was only during the first week of October that we found out what was going on,” says Ramiro Mascerenhas. “There was no notice board or anything of that sort, and they told us they had started their work on 19th September.”

Ramiro Mascerenhas and Mario Pereira, natives and residents of Loutolim, noticed big machines on the plateau region. They went up, saw them cutting the hill, demanded an explanation, and managed to stop the work for a few days. “Next thing we know, a board is up and the destruction has started again,” Ramiro says.

By 4th October, a notice was up on the village’s Panchayat office, detailing the ongoing work of the “missing link.”

By 14th October, approximately 40 activists went up the steep gradient and demanded the contractors to stop the work and bring down the machines, on account of lack of transparency and information and appropriate permissions for the project.

“We want information. We have been going to various departments of the government, and asked for information. We want to know the entire alignment plan, where is the road starting and ending. We want to know the socio-economic impact assessment of this project. And we want to know what hidden agenda the government has. We firmly believe this road is being built for transport of coal, and we don’t want any dirty coal to come through our villages,” said Edwin Mascerenhas, a native of Loutolim to the media present on site.

Investigations carried out by the Indian Express indicate that this “missing link” is part of the coal corridor project of Mormugao Port Trust. The 40m wide roads are essentially being constructed for the transport of heavy trucks carrying coal, and its capacity is set to increase to 21 million tonne by 2030.

Apart from MPT’s  2007 Business Development report mentioned earlier, one of the letters detailing the project mentioned that the “project will establish proper linkage to Mormugao Port and also connect Verna and Sancoale Industrial areas, Goa Airport and Vasco city and will remove all bottlenecks and impediments for a proper port connectivity required for movement of cargo and other traffic.”

The work was stopped for a few days, and started again on, 16th October. This time, there were a group of security guards manning the site.

ABOUT LOUTOLIM

Loutolim is a large, sleepy village in the Salcete taluka in south Goa. It is about 10km from Margao. A triangle shaped village, it is about 17.81 sq.km in size, full of forested hilly slopes. The Zuari river flows through the village, and it is also home to a number of khazan lands. The village has nine wards, and doesn’t get much mobile network, thanks to the presence of a single mobile tower.Transport is also non-existent, as there are no dedicated buses for the village, only those passing to-and-from Margao or Ponda to Vasco. The legendary cartoonist Mario Miranda, also a native of Loutolim brought the drama of bus journeys alive in his comics, showing them full to the brim with arms and legs of people spilling out. That sight stays true even today.

Loutolim also has the second richest Panchayat after Sancoale, according to Mario Pereira, 39, native and resident of the village, and a former Deputy Sarpanch. Most of its revenue comes from the neighbouring Verna Industrial Estate, which, according to him, has 185 units falling within Loutolim. Plus there are two shipyards in the area.

The village is full of forest trails, home to a number of species of birds. The village has a lot of old Portuguese houses, including the grand Figuerado Mansion, and Casa Araujo Alvares, and the famous Big Foot Museum.

THE POTENTIAL DAMAGE OF THE “MISSING LINK”

“All roads of Loutolim have six metre wide roads. If we wanted this link, we would max have a 12m road. What in the world is the point of a 40m metre road??” questions Ramiro.

“Also, couldn’t they construct a bridge, instead of destroying our forests like this?” he asks.

As a fly-on-the-wall observer following the activists run pillar to post to gain more information on the Missing Link project, I noted one PWD Division 14 official flatly say, “This is a matter of cost-benefit analysis. A road will cost us 1.25 lakh per sq m, and a bridge will cost us 14 lakh per sq.m. You do the math and see it for yourself.”

And what about socio-economic and environment cost-benefit?

The top soil of the forested slopes of Loutolim is laterite in nature, and therefore acts as a sponge during monsoon season, recharging the water table and acting as a natural aquifer. Below it is hard basalt. Getting rid of this soil is detrimental for the water supply of Loutolim.

One concerned resident noted that the filling of the low lying land will stop the natural flow of the water gushing from the sluice gates into the khazan land. “Our fields will get stagnant, the soil will become marshy and unusable,” he lamented.

At a recently concluded Gram Sabha on 10th December, the village unanimously passed resolutions against coal transportation, coal stacking, formation of jetties and vowed to protect their rivers. However, when I asked Sarpanch Inacinho Fernandes, about the “missing link” being built for the transport of coal trucks, he simply dismissed the statement, saying that the road was being constructed to reduce vehicular traffic on the narrow village roads, and that it was a “good thing.”

Mario, Ramiro, and several others are not convinced, and are prepared to fight the long, hard battle.

“We have managed to keep our village concrete free so far,” says Mario. “We will do whatever it takes to keep the peace alive.”