Editor, Goemkarponn
AERIAL VIEW
Despite having the passes, neither did they get entry into the inauguration pandal nor did anybody thank them for their contribution of giving over a crore square meters of land at negligible rates.
Only the Chief Minister, Dr Pramod Sawant, made a passing remark in his speech, wherein he said he is thankful to the people who gave their land.
That wasn’t enough, Mr CM. A mere thanks are just not enough.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 as he showed dreams of Acche Din to all Indians; there is a saying in Hindi, “Sapnon Ka Saudagar”, The One who sells dreams.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
Make no mistake; this column isn’t to oppose the New International Airport at Mopa or nor is it to oppose the name Manohar International Airport; this article is purely in human interest, in the interest of our Goan farmers, who parted with their livelihood for Parrikar’s dream to be fulfilled.
They put at stake the present of their families, they put at stake the future of their children, and what did they get at the inauguration of the New International Mopa airport on Sunday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – almost nothing.
Despite having the passes, neither did they get entry into the inauguration pandal nor did anybody thank them for their contribution of giving over a crore square meters of land at negligible rates.
Only the Chief Minister, Dr Pramod Sawant, made a passing remark in his speech, wherein he said he is thankful to the people who gave their land.
That wasn’t enough, Mr CM. A mere thanks are just not enough.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 as he showed dreams of Acche Din to all Indians; there is a saying in Hindi, “Sapnon Ka Saudagar”, The One who sells dreams.
But he left Goan farmers dejected when he simply failed to make a mention of farmers in his speech. He should have recognised their contributions. Maybe, he was not told by the State government about the farmers’ contributions. Is it?
Yes, Goans, too, felt Modi would keep his promises, and PM did make a special mention of Goa in his speech, saying, “Goa has given him everything, and it is payback time now.”
Yes, sir, we agree it is payback time for the BJP government. A lot has been taken away from our farmers. As you know, Goa is a small State. We depend on other states for our basic needs like vegetable milk and foodgrains, and that is simply because we do not have enough land. On top of that, crores and crores square meters of our land is being acquired for mega projects like the National Highway widening, the Airport, the IITs, the NIT’s, the Double tracking to railways, the hospitals and so on.
In return, the farmers get peanuts in the name of compensation.
No, sir, we are not against development, we want development, and we are not debating whether the Mopa Project should have come or not. We understand that Goa is a tourist state and is heavily dependent on Tourism after mining was shut down. And for Tourism to thrive, we needed the second Airport, as Dabolim was just not enough. However, we also do not want Dabolim to be shut as thousands of Goans’ livelihood depends on that Airport.
Coming back to the irony of Mopa farmers, it has not ended yet. Again lakhs of square meters of land have been acquired for the approach road at Mopa.
Several of these farmers, who depended on Cashew plantations and had already lost land for the Airport, now also have to part away with the land for the approach road. Sad.
Many of the farmers who are yet to get the compensation for the first land acquisition are now left empty-handed.
Parrikar, on the other hand, who only conceptualised this Airport, got his name inscribed on the Airport, by deleting the names of real owners (farmers) from Form I & XIV.
