Scrap land acquisition: Velim gram sabha
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 7
Velim villagers on Sunday once again strongly demanded scraping of the land acquisition process for the expansion of the Cutbona fishing jetty.
At the gram sabha held on Sunday, the villagers demanded that the land acquisition process should be scrapped and the land in question maintained as it, since it is falling in the eco-sensitive zone.
Referring to the letter written by the Director of Fisheries that the land in question is being acquired for the expansion of the fishing jetty and not for the fish meal plant, agitated gram sabha members demanded to know how the government can amalgamate the two purposes in one land acquisition. They pointed out that the land acquisition process should be scrapped in toto and vowed that the villagers will not allow further expansion of the fishing jetty.
The villagers have also demanded that the health authorities check the labour imported to work on the fishing vessels for various vector borne diseases including malaria, chikungunia and dengue. They demanded that no labour should be allowed to board the vessels without undergoing the medical check since most of the workers comes from high risk areas of the country.
Incidentally, health officials have told the Panchayat that they have no control over the labour employed on the fishing vessels.
Meanwhile, the gram sabha expressed serious concern over the surge in the number of suicide cases amongst men, women and the youth.
They demanded that the government through the Director of Health Services, department of women and child development and the NGOs should help prevent the rising suicides. They have called for the setting up of a Task Force to prepare an action plan to prevent suicides by appointing counsellors in schools and educational institutions.
