Locals meet to protest unlawful hill-cutting at Baga

Baga: Priests and a large number of parishioners from the Calangute-Candolim beach belt held a meeting at Baga on Sunday in protest of the illegal excavation of a cliff at Baga-Arpora that has put the Xavier Retreat House— that lies atop it— in danger of collapsing. Calangute MLA Michael Lobo and other elected representatives and activists also attended the meeting.
Fr Savio Baretto, rector of the Basilica of Bom Jesus, who also holds charge of Jesuit properties in Goa, described the unlawful hill-cutting at Baga as an attack on Jesuits in the state. The hill belongs to the Jesuits. Expressing shock and outrage, he said, “When I saw this (the damage), I was really angry. I never imagined that a Goan could do this. If someone can come and destroy Jesuit property, it can happen to anyone.” Fr Baretto added that he has written a letter to chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar demanding that the hill be restored and the wall repaired before the monsoon.
While Calangute parish priest, Fr Cipriano D’Silva, also condemned the activity, Fr Robin Rodrigues, dean of the Calangute deanery said, “Had I been told earlier that an excavator was engaged in cutting the hill, I would have laid down in it path.” Fr Ronald D’Souza, director of the Xavier Retreat House, also spoke.
During his address, Calangute MLA Michael Lobo recalled how a part of the flooring of the retreat house had cracked following a landslide last year, prompting the state government to carry out repair works and construct a retaining wall. “Now, a single person—local panch member Cleophas Fernandes alias Kelfa—has damaged that wall in a bid to create a six-metre-wide road to the other side of the hill as an access to some cottages that are proposed to be built there,” he claimed.
Criticizing the Anjuna police for arresting and then immediately releasing Fernandes on bail for the illegal excavation last week, Lobo threatened to go on a hunger strike along with a large number of parishioners if no action was forthcoming from the government.
There was an overwhelming demand from the gathering that the individuals involved in damaging the hill should be made to pay for its restoration.