Saligao

Geography

Saligão is located at 15.55°N 73.77°E / 15.55; 73.77. It has an average elevation of 9 metres (30 feet).

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Saligão had a population of 5553. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Saligão has an average literacy rate of 82%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 87%, and female literacy is 76%. In Saligão, 8% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Places of interest

Village issues

In recent years, Saligão, which is just outside the North Goa beach-belt, has seen significant concerns over the large-scale sale of ground-water from a number of wells in the village, particularly at Donvaddo. There has also been concern raised by villagers over the dumping of garbage from the coastal belt on the hillock atop the village, partly on village lands and partly on land belonging to the Calangute comunidade but very close (and overlooking) the village. On December 12, 2002, a writ petition was filed over this issue in the Goa bench of the High Court of Bombay.

The petition challenged the selection of a garbage disposal site on the top of Saligão plateau, in the midst of a social forest plantation raised by the Goa government's Forest Department. It argued that the decision to locate the disposal site in this "inappropriate area" was made without following the procedures established by law, particularly the provision of Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2000 issued under provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. "The location is bound to have grievous consequences for the environment, health and water supplies," the petition filed by green lawyer Norma Alvares of the Goa Foundation argued.

On the groundwater issue, in May 2002, a study titled "Saligao's water crisis and commercial groundwater extraction" was released. Its summary said: "Extraction of groundwater for commercial sale outside the village has risen sharply in the last five years, to a level of up to 435,000 litres per day. Groundwater levels are falling, and wells for household use and for irrigating farmland are running dry in some parts of Saligao, although other parts of the village are unaffected. The problem is very serious for household wells in Don Vaddo and parts of Sonarbhat, and for farmers in Mollembhat. Enough consumers are suffering serious problems to merit the SCCC (Saligao Civic and Consumers' Cell) taking up commercial groundwater extraction as a community issue."

It noted that more than half of 28 household wells surveyed in Don Vaddo and Sonarbhat went dry in April/May 2001, a normal monsoon year. At least 138 consumers depend on these wells. Falling water levels in this area have coincided with a very rapid increase in commercial extraction from the local well.