500 flats is another blow to the villages ecology look at the encroachments on the nh 17 the 40m setback rule has been thrown into the bin the land is full of illegal constructions from guirim to the assembly complex the government must demolish all these illegal structures says mascarenhas how can the proposed highway be broadened with the rampant illegal constructions coming up along it this gives the government a perfect excuse to divert the highway bring it into the village and encroach into the fields added mascarenhas a former football player at dempo sc and mrf the aesthetics of socorro is being sacrificed with the construction of highrise buildings in porvorim and other areas in the village says michael rodrigues of alto porvorim rodrigues further adds that real estate projects have put tremendous pressure on local infrastructure if real estate projects do not stop very soon socorro will face a dire situation in terms of drinking water electricity and garbage managementdevelopment is mandatory we are not against development but it shouldnt be done at the cost of degrading the environment illegal constructions should be kept in check says aditya barve a doctor locals also say that springs in the village which flow through the hills are being affected due to big complexes being constructed in their path the stream of water that was coming down from the hills is being blocked due to construction the authorities ignored the voices of the villagers and the building complex came up at ambirna the builder also built a well without permission says linda dsouza projects of 45 storey buildings should not be allowed in villages they change the very character of any village she added says noted brand consultant cajetan vaz who is also a socorro resident buying a flat in a complex opened my eyes to the load that people like me were putting onto a village that was selfsufficient before the real estate onslaught i was putting pressure on the water supply adding to the traffic congestion reducing the green cover polluting the ground water and contributing to the septic tank the main drawback is the absence of a proper sewage system causing new constructions to depend on soak pits and septic tanks which are ticking health time bombs i hope this will change for the better says vaz sarpanch sonia pednekar blames the previous panchayat bodies for granting permissions to real estate projects the panchayat members elected in the 2012 elections have not encouraged or given permission to any real estate projects the panchayat is totally against real estate projects and it will never allow big projects like 500 flats to come up the village she said when contacted porvorim mla rohan khaunte said that the encroachments on the highway and on comunidade land has to be blamed on the previous congress and current bjp governments with regard to encroachment on comunidade land or on the national highway vacant plots allotted to people should be scrutinized and taken