THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2024
Team Herald
MARGAO: Varca residents including farmers stopped the ongoing works of laying of a gas pipeline in private properties and agricultural lands, as they claim that the same is illegal and has been carried out without prior intimation to the original landowners.
At Combiapedd, Varca, workers engaged by contractors were found carrying out works in private property without even informing the landowners or acquiring the necessary permissions. A gas pipeline laid in an area with agricultural lands on both sides of the road has caused anxiety among citizens including the farmers, who expressed concerns about the potential consequences if something goes wrong once the pipeline is made operational.
Rajiv Baracho, a citizen and landowner, informed
O Heraldo that the residents of Varca are unaware of gas pipeline being laid in the village and alleged that the works are being carried out without transparency, keeping citizens and especially landowners in the dark.
Baracho said, “A friend informed me that work has started in my property and after arriving at the site it was found that the workers have already dug five pits in the property. This is nonsense. How can they carry out such works in the private properties without informing/intimating the land owners and without land following acquisition procedure for the project?”
He said that there are several banyan trees, cashew plantations and water bodies in the property. When inquired with the panchayat; it came to light that the project proponents had not even obtained a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the panchayat.
The plan shows the gas pipeline passing near the hotels which will benefit the hotel industry at the cost of people's ancestral land, said Baracho.
Elvino Braganza, a farmer and former panch, expressing shock, demanded clarity from the authorities concerned on the ongoing issue.
“I have been made to understand that when there are agricultural fields on both sides of the road such a gas pipeline cannot be laid down as there are high possibilities that the pipeline could burst while carrying out the agricultural works,” he said.
Braganza emphasised that such a project would cause major inconvenience to his agricultural land, hindering other cultivation activities.
