Team Herald
VALPOI: Shel-Melauli villagers on Saturday accused Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane of misguiding them on proposed IIT project by taking the wrong decisions by sitting in the State’s capital.
Claiming that both ministers never visited Shel, the locals said the land which has been proposed for the IIT project is their ancestral land. On Saturday the locals planted saplings at the IIT project site. The villagers have planted over 100 medicinal plants.
The villagers said, “We don’t want the 45,000 square metres of land recently sanctioned by the government for religious purposes. We want the land proposed for the IIT project with proper ownership documents.”
“We have cashew plantations and around 10 houses on the IIT project land which belong to the Dhangar community. Now we are collecting the land documents on lawyers’ advice. Next week, we will file a case against the government,” they added.
The villagers said, “Ponda PWD tendered compound wall construction work at the project site, last week.”
They claimed that the PWD has no permission and NOC from the Forest and TCP Departments.
“How can they construct a compound wall without proper documents? We will not allow them to construct the compound hall on the biodiversity land,” they vowed.
The villagers had now decided to meet the Ponda PWD Engineer and question him on what basis the compound wall construction work has been tendered.
