Team Goemkarponn
CANACONA: Stating locals harassment by Forest Department should be stopped immediately, Khotigao residents under the banner of Khotigao Jagruth Nagrik Sanghatna in a memorandum has warned Khotigao village Sarpanch and Secretary of dire consequences if forest department continues to harass the villagers.
Congress leader Janardhan Bhandari, Gasper Coutinho and others supported the villagers of Khotigao in their fights against the forest official’s harassment and were present along with the villagers to submit the memorandum to the Sarpanch and Secretary of Khotigao Village panchayat.
Alerting the panchayat of the Forest department’s atrocities on the people and the forest itself, the villagers in the memorandum stated that the Forest Department itself is doing many things under the pretext of protecting and conserving the forest, but neither gives protection nor helps to conserve the forest. On the contrary, it disrupts the biological chain in the forest and leads to the destruction of the forest, giving rise to many problems for the microscopic organisms in the forest and large numbers of wild animals, ultimately leaving the villagers to suffer.
The Forest Department began construction aside the main road at Khotigao- Peepalamal and on 23/02/2025, people came together and were forced to stop work as people did not want it. Canacona MLA/Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar visited the spot and advised the Forest Department not to pursue work if there is opposition from the people. Subsequently the issue was hotly discussed at length in the village Gram Sabha on the same day and a resolution was passed that the Forest Department, or anyone else, should not carry out any work in the Khotigao area without obtaining a no-objection certificate from the local body(Panchayat). However, the Forest Department resumed work from 21/03/2025.
The memorandum emphasized that in a similar fashion a few years ago forest department began construction at Yeda on the road leading to Nadke and Keri wards telling people department is building a rest room for forest staff whereas within a few years, it was converted into a checkpost and since then people of both Nadke and Keri are constantly and repeatedly questioned/harrassed while coming and going treating these villagers as if they are thieves and enemies of the forest. The similar situation will arise if construction is allowed at Peepalamal, and the people of Yeda, Kuskem, and Badde areas will be subjected to further harassment. Therefore, the people of Khotigao are completely opposed to this construction and this work should be stopped immediately and the people of our village should be kept free from harassment.
While doing any work related to the planning, the forest department is required to take the people living nearby into confidence. For thousands of years, if the people living in the forest need roads or electricity, the forest department objects to any work with the help of machines, but the same forest department uses machines whenever it wants. Such an act is a form of oppression by depriving people of basic facilities.
Resident giving examples stated there is still no road in Nadkem village, no road or electricity in Keri village, Forest department opposes road halfway in Pansulemoll village, in some places, stones have been erected to mark the boundary of Kumeri plantation, People of Marli village had to boycott the voting for the road.
Forest department is known to spend crores of rupees every year in the name of planting trees, but not having enough space to plant these trees, forest departments cut down naturally grown and mature forests. Especially, they cut down small trees that have grown from one and a half to two meters and keep only big trees. But the naturally grown trees in the forest are very important for maintaining the balance of nature. Those trees are known to sustain the environment, whereas cutting down such natural trees means disrupting the balance of the life cycle or biological cycle of nature, creating many problems.
Natural trees or forests are food for animals in the forest. At the same time, they are also food for the cattle that the people of the village keep. When this food is destroyed, the animals in the forest come to residential areas in search of food and destroy agricultural, horticultural and other crops in the village. Many animals like tigers, lions and foxes live by hunting animals that eat grass. If the animals that live on grass are destroyed, the animals that live on grass will not get anything to eat, in which case those animals come to human settlements in search of their prey and attack cattle, dogs and cats. In the future, these animals will be active in attacking humans.
Many traditional healers use flowers, leaves, fruits, bark, and roots of forest trees to prepare their medicines, however due to tree slaughter, they will not get the medicines to keep the traditional medicine system alive. Many plants that grow naturally during the rainy season are eaten as vegetables by the villagers, especially vegetables of different seasons. On one hand, the government organizes large-scale exhibitions of natural and wild vegetables, and on the other hand, the department destroys all this.
People living in the forest and nearby use different forest produce for their daily use.
Wherever the forest department plants new trees, it encloses the area with barbed wire fences, build stone fences, dig trenches, and wild animals as well grazing cattles get trapped in these wires and fences.
If people living in the forest or near the forest use trees to meet their daily needs, it is a crime. But the forest department kills small and big trees to grow a new generation of the forest. How is this not a crime? If an adult is killed, is it a crime and if a child is killed, is it not a crime?
The forest department and the government say that forests are the real wealth, but for those living in the forest, in the village and near the forest, forests are life.
Interestingly, villagers also gave suggestions as to what the Forest Department should do!
The Forest Department should study the culture, lifestyle and conditions of the people who live in and near the forest. If the department provides iron or cement products in place of the items that the people of the village use from the forest, the trees that have to be cut to bring wood will be saved.
If those who have cattle are given free cow dung gas connections and those who do not have cattle are given solar energy projects, the use of trees used for firewood will automatically stop.
Plant various types of fruit trees in the area where possible without cutting down the natural forest. So that the animals living in the forest can eat the fruits of those trees as food and those animals will be easily stopped from coming to the village for their food.
The work of setting up barbed wire fences, stone fences and digging trenches to define the boundaries should be stopped immediately and small stones should be placed at a distance of 100 / 200 meters to define boundaries so that no animal movement is hindered.
The memorandum is signed by President and Secretary of Khotigao Jagruth Nagrik Sanghatna.
