PONDA: Usgao villagers took to the streets on Tuesday protesting MRF’s proposed extension project in the village.

The villagers said that they are vehemently opposed to the project since the company does not employ locals, but recruits workforce from outside the State, even as it causes air pollution that affects the health of the people residing in the village.

Out of the current 350 positions at Usgao, MRF has employed hardly eight locals, they villagers complained.

Therefore, the villagers strongly demanded that the panchayat revoke the NOC for the project and Investment Promotion Board scrap the project. The villagers are angry that the panchayat NOC and IPB approval were granted despite them passing several resolutions in gram sabhas. Therefore, they have threatened a major agitation if their demands are not met.

According to villagers the new plant will be entirely operated by robots as such no local would get a job in the new plant. 

They complained that though it is the policy of the government that industries should provide 80 percent jobs to locals, the same has not been implemented in letter and spirit. They proposed that the government should conduct a survey on the number of locals employed in industries across Goa and put that information in the public domain.

The villagers also accused the government of sanctioning projects without determining the number of jobs it would create. The same way, the villagers allege, the MRF extension project was approved without extracting a promise from the company to provide jobs for the locals.

According to the information obtained under RTI by the villagers from the Zonal forest office at Ponda, around 600 coconut trees will have to be cut to make way for the proposed project. However, no permission has been given by the forest office to cut the trees.

The villagers also complained that since coming to Goa in 1971, MRF has kept extending its unit in Usgao and the extension in 1990 had caused major health problems for the locals.

The villagers are angry that despite earning profits and polluting the local environment, the company has not discharged its corporate social responsibilities by providing health and educational facilities in the village.