Government's Licentious Eyes On The Cabo-de-Rama Fort
It is said that Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but it does depend on what sort of eyes the beholder looks at the beauty, it can be plain admiration or it can be lust. Cabo-de-Rama, is situated on the west coast of southern Goa, it is about 30kms from Margao, it has sea on three sides and hills abreast a plateau on it's north east. The scenic beauty reminds one of Kanyakumari at sunset, it is blessed with a beautiful beach and a plateau that's envied and eyed by a lot of hoteliers. This beach and the adjoining plateau has been used by a good number of Bollywood producers for film shoots, and music videos, it is indeed scenic and picturesque, I for one never tire seeing and admiring it's beauty.
The Cabo-de-Rama fort is strategically built, from where it gives a clear view of the vast coast and the open sea. Inside it's walls it's full of greenery, over the wall it's just awesome view on the sides of the fort. Though only the remains old residences of the Portuguese are still around, the Church still looks immaculate. The Portuguese had built this church, dedicated to St. Anthony, right in the centre of this fort, this Church will complete 400 years next January, about fifty meters from the sides of the Church, all around it, there are the fourteen crosses depicting the fourteen stations of the cross. The parishioners of this Church are the residents of Cabo-de-Rama and the residents of Nuem, which is a small hamlet situated between Cabo-de-Rama and Canaguinim, at all major Church festivals the residents of Nuem gather at the Cabo-de-Rama Church. The blessing of the first fruits Navidade is done from the top of this fort, from where you get the view of all the fields and houses of Cabo-de-Rama. The processions during the feasts and the Holy week are done around the fourteen crosses. The feast of the Church is celebrated on the 15th of February with great devotion and gaiety.
From my childhood I have been hearing various stories that the Cabo-de-Rama fort was to be taken over by the Navy, the hotel industry, Atomic energy Commission, Airport and the Tourism Department among others, there were also rumors that a hifi educational institute was supposed to be taking over the fort, but now finally the cat is out of the bag and the intentions of the government are clear. The Government is certainly looking at the Cabo-de-Rama fort with licentious eyes and that has made the Cabo-de-Rama and Nuem residents very much jittery and anxiety is in the air. We certainly do not have any good reason to trust the Government.
We are all aware what happened when the Anjediv Island was handed over to armed forces, till today no one is allowed access to the church despite a good numbers requests and delegations. We certainly do not want our community to suffer the same and invite nuisance around our place of worship. Ours is a small community and we surely wouldn't want ourselves to be run over by our conniving government. We will fight and do everything possible to protect the privacy of our village and our rights.
We have been cooperative with the Government as far as the restoration and the maintenance of the fort is concerned but we will certainly oppose privatisation of the fort, it is the land of the community to be use only for the benefit of the community. Our people have learned a lesson from the mining issue and we will not be taken for granted. What the Government does in the area, has to be discussed with the locals and the Panchayat, there should be transparency in any process that the government undertakes, to see how beneficial or adverse it would be for the residents of the area.
The reputation of the present Government to support and appease the luxury hotel consortiums and mega builders against the wishes of the locals is well known, the concerns and the problems of the locals are not what interests them as long as they can make a whack for themselves, what happens to the rest is inconsequential to them. So it is left up to us to protect and safeguard our interests.
Save Cabo-de-Rama fort from privatisation. Let the people of Cabo-de-Rama decide what they want.
Freddy Agnelo Fernandes
Nuem, Goa/Dubai-UAE
The writer can be contacted at ffernandes.dgj at emaar.ae
http://goenkarponn.blogspot.com/2010/06/governments-licentious-eyes-on-cabo-de.html
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