Team Herald

PANJIM: Amidst chaos and confusion, members of Chimbel gram sabha on Sunday resolved to call on the State government demanding a white paper on the proposed Information Technology (IT) Park in the village. 

Stating that the proposed IT Park would affect the natural resources in the area, the members have even threatened to approach the court challenging the project, which is spread across 5.5 lakh sq mts. The members pointed out that one of the lakes, which supplied water to Panjim during the Portuguese era, will be destroyed. 

Sarpanch Chandrakant Kunkolkar said that the panchayat has already approached IT Minister Rohan Khaunte for details of the project and the reply from the government is awaited. 

As demanded by the villagers, the gram sabha passed a resolution to demand for a white paper on the project from the government, failing which they would not allow it to take shape. 

Angry villagers, raising strong objection to the proposed area acquired for the project said that government should first come out with a white paper disclosing the details of the project and how it is going to benefit the locals. 

A villager Govind Shirodkar said that if government fails to release white paper, then, the panchayat should resort to legal options to challenge the project.  

Citing the case of Tuem Electronic City where over 6 lakh sq mts of land have been acquired for the project, over which the jurisdiction of the local panchayat has been withdrawn through a notification, Shirodkar said, “as per the notification, once the area is declared as Electronic City or IT park or industrial area, then, the local panchayat has no jurisdiction over it.” 

“The same would be replicated in Chimbel. And to ensure that this does not happen, we need to act now,” he stated. He, however, clarified that people are not against the project but against the area acquired. 

Another local Tukaram Kunkolkar brought to the notice of the gram sabha that till date neither the panchayat members nor the villagers have been taken into confidence about the project. He said that the minister should hold meetings with locals in the village and not with IT companies. 

The members said that villagers are kept in dark on the project, which will destroy the entire eco-sensitive areas thus causing major destruction. 

A detailed presentation was also made on the People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR). The members have recommended some suggestions and the same would be incorporated and placed before the next gram sabha.