AERIAL VIEW
Their only contention was when the Warkhand village panchayat had already issued the work order, why was the work still going on? Why is the Land Acquisition Officer Chandrakant Shetkar not following the process? Why are the villagers and village panchayat kept in the dark? Why are lakhs of square meters of land required for link road? Why is only Pernem being targeted by the government for all major projects?
Sounds strange but true, the BJP government, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Government of India and the GMR have acquired around 80 lakh square meters of land for Mopa airport, wherein many farmers are yet to be compensated. The farmers, who heavily depend on cashew cultivation, have lost their only source of livelihood.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
Even as the BJP-led government has faced a significant backlash this Assembly election wherein several of their leaders and candidates were booed away for anti-people decision, Dr Pramod Sawant, his Council of Ministers and the BJP does not seem to learn any lessons from the past.
The villages of Casavanem, Tulaskarwadi and Warkhand are burning with the issue of the Mopa link road, and the villagers even sat on a dharna under a scorching sun on Sunday afternoon blocking traffic to the Mopa International airport site.
Their only contention was when the Warkhand village panchayat had already issued the work order, why was the work still going on? Why is the Land Acquisition Officer Chandrakant Shetkar not following the process? Why are the villagers and village panchayat kept in the dark? Why are lakhs of square meters of land required for link road? Why is only Pernem being targeted by the government for all major projects?
Sounds strange but true, the BJP government, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Government of India and the GMR have acquired around 80 lakh square meters of land for Mopa airport, wherein many farmers are yet to be compensated. The farmers, who heavily depend on cashew cultivation, have lost their only source of livelihood.
As if this was not enough, the government again started acquiring land for the Mopa link road or expressway, for which many farmers will also lose their land. Some of these farmers have already lost their land during earlier land acquisitions for the airport.
So then the million-dollar question is, why a 45-meter width expressway is required? Does Dabolim airport, which has served Goa for ages, now have an expressway? The four-lane highway from Verna was built only a few years ago, but that is only used by people from South Goa as the North Goans use the Chicalim road, which is not even four lanes.
Yes, the airport requires better connectivity, but why bulldoze the project? The government should first complete the Mopa airport and look at the exact requirement and the traffic.
The government says both the airports (Dabolim and Mopa) would be operational, so in all probability, if we believe this government, the traffic would be split. If the government is clear on the split traffic, why is there a need for an expressway? The Mopa airport would be used by North Goa passengers, and Dabolim would be used by South Goa.
Coming back to 45-meter width, is this not a waste of money? Why not reduce it to just 20 or 25 meters?
According to PWD rules, a lane is 3.5 meters; considering this, even a four-lane would require just 14 meters now, consider two meters for a divider; even then, four-meter width becomes extra. So why does the government want a 6-lanes or 8-lane expressway which is hardly eight kilometres from the main road, which is a four-lane National Highway? Isn’t this an unnecessary torturing of the local farmers?
Yes, we all agree development is the need of the hour but not at the cost of someone’s livelihood to fill the pockets of a few high and mighty…
The CM and the government have seen what has happened in Shel Melaulim, wherein the people even resorted to violence to protect their land. Does Sawant and the BJP want Melauli to be repeated?
