SURAJ NANDREKAR/
Goemkarponn desk
MOPA: Under the scorching sun, the people of Tulaskarwadi, Casarvanem and Warkhand panchayat sat on the road blocking all traffic from and to the Mopa International airport.
Their grievance was only why the State government or the Central Government not listening to their voices. They demanded to know why are the Mopa authorities not stopping work on the link road; despite the Warkhand panchayat issuing a work order, no action was being initiated. Finally, not just the people, it has forced the Village panchayat members to also come on the road to demand justice for the farmers, who have lost their land for the needless project.
Sanjay Tulaskar, Sarpanch Warkhand Village Panchayat, told Goemakrponn that when the land acquisition was underway, the panchayat called a special gram sabha and took a resolution against the project.
“The resolution was sent to all the concerned departments, but they started work after the monsoons. When we came to know about the work starting, we issued the stop-work order. We, as panchayat, have just asked them, whatever work they are doing, please furnish all the documents, which will be discussed with the people,” he said.
Tulaskar further lamented that so far, authorities have ignored their request.
When asked whether the National Highway come under panchayat jurisdiction? He replied, “How would we know what it is? We have not been shown anything. They should have at least written to us that such a project is coming and it is out of the panchayat’s jurisdiction, but here, the case is different”.
The sarpanch says, as panchayat, they have no idea why the trees are being cut? Why there is land acquisition etc.?
“So we have basically told them to stop work for two days and furnish all documents. We will see what can be done. We don’t know how much land they require.
We are told around 4 lakh sq meter is being acquired for the link road, which is about 6.5 kilometres, but there is no confirmation,” he said.
Tulaskar says Government should take people into confidence before going ahead with such projects. “People had not objected to the project earlier, but the way the Government is acquiring land everywhere has given more wind to the agitation,” he says.
Sandeep Kambli, Mopa activist and the major land loser, says the link road is a grave injustice to the people of Tulaskarwadi, Casarvanem and Warkhand, who were already hurt by Mopa airport land acquisition.
“When they were acquiring land for the airport at that time itself, they should have given thought to all requirements. Supreme Court directions clearly state that they should have seen the road connectivity before and not when the airport is nearing completion,” Kambli said.
He further added that according to a government report, they have heard there are dozens of more projects in Pernem near the airport, so it looks like they want to finish the constituency.
Adv Jeetendra Gaonkar, who is fighting the case for the farmers, said that one year ago, a notice was issued saying if people had any issues on land acquisition for the road.
“They asked for objection to be raised before the concerned land acquisition officer. Despite the objections and matter being sub-judice, they started conducting surveys, which we objected again, but the land acquisition officer dismissed the objections,” he said.
Gaonkar said they have challenged SLA rejection before the High Court, saying the procedure followed is not as per the law.
“When the case is sub-judice, how can the Government start work on the expressway? So we had no option but to ask Warkhand panchayat under whose jurisdiction the work is underway to take action in the people’s interest and issue the stop-work order,” Gaonkar says.
When asked whether the project will not bring development to the village? He replied, saying the villages around Mopa are already in deep trouble.
“If development is done by crushing people, their livelihood taken away, it cannot be called development. This looks more like a business airport. He said that the land acquisition does not stop till now for decades,” he said.
He said that the Supreme Court had clearly stated that six lakh trees have to be planted, but nothing has been done.
“We will move the contempt petition in the Supreme Court next week. The authorities have to tell us why they are ignoring panchayat orders. Are they immune to the laws of the land?” he said.
