Team Herald
MOPA: Mopa airport and Link road affected farmers once again commenced their agitation against the government demanding to stop the ongoing work of Mopa link road.
The farmers condemned the government turning blind eyes towards the difficulties that farmers are facing.
People from Talaskarwadi, Shemechadvan, Dhargal, Kasarwane and other surrounding areas gathered at Tulaskarwadi on Sunday and re started their agitation against the government to stop the work of link road. The protestors included men, women, as well as seniors citizens and youth.
"We are here to condemn the government which is more concerned about companies and working for their benefits instead of listening to our demand to stop the work. The government has turned a blind eye towards the problems that locals are facing," a farmer said.
“The Government is putting pressure on the people to shut their voices. Some even filed RTIs in different departments to get information on the project and activities but their RTIs received no response. One by one, illegal activities of government are coming out in the open. The two pump houses coming at Kasarwane are connected to the airport. There are tube wells on the airport site which pump thousands of litres of water every day," said farmer Bharat Bagkar.
Their only natural source of water is on the verge of extinction on which they were dependent since generations, say framers
"Already there are three petitions pending in the court for hearing but still the work of the link road is going on in full swing. The way the government is working, it looks like they want to finish off everything and grab the land because if the next government changes then their corruption will be exposed. We don't know who has given them the order to destroy the land," said Jitendra Gaonkar, a social worker, said.
Sadhana Tulaskar an affected farmer from Tulaskarwadi said," We use to get yearly income of Rs five lakhs from our plantation. Now that the plantation is destroyed, our only source of income is stopped. Due to this link road, we are also losing our houses. Government should compensate us for this loss till then we will continue with this agitation. Government should compensate us with land and houses in Pernem itself since we are also losing our house."