Cansaulim villagers holds one-day hunger strike on Goa Liberation Day

Residents of Arossim-Cansaulim took out a one-day hunger strike to protest against the hotel entrepreneur on Goa's Liberation Day, December 19.

The villagers are opposing the construction of a 7-star hotel in eco sensitive area by filling up the land and water bodies.

Women, senior citizen, youth and even children actively participated in the protest.

Former Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha visited the protest site to showe her support. "Villagers have come on the streets to protect the environment, the hotel authorities should ensure that they protect the water bodies and find a solution to this problem. If steps are taken in the interest of the environment, the villagers will definitely not oppose," she said.

"There is problem of electricity and water supply in the village, there are sand dunes, lakes and ponds surrounded here and building this hotel will only create more problem to the villagers," one of the protestor said.

In Cansualim village, there are more than seven natural reservoirs filled with rain water. These reservoirs must be safeguarded because water seeps into people's houses during the monsoon.