MARGAO: There was a major furore in Navelim on Wednesday, with farmers from around Saipem lake up in arms over speculation that the government is allegedly allowing a service road to be built through the fields around the lake. Questions were also raised if vested interests were eying the fields for commercial real estate projects and the service road would be used to facilitate this and possible land conversions too.
For perspective, a vast area of land around the Saipem lake was lying abandoned for more than three decades until recently.
Alongside the support it has received from the Navelim Panchayat’s Village Development Committee (VDC) and Don Bosco Agricultural Unit, the farmers of Saipem lake had unitedly taken up a community initiative of reviving cultivation in lakh square metres of the fields.
While the plans were to take up more land for cultivation in the second phase, a total of 25,150 square metres of fields in another portion of the area around Saipem lake, had been acquired years ago by the Water Resources Department (WRD) for providing irrigational support to the farmers.
However, this project was a failure as the canal the WRD had been built never supplied water and moreover, the abandoned infrastructure, like pillars and half-completed pipes were proving to be an obstacle for the farmers, as one path to the fields was obstructed.
The farmers had recently demanded that these pillars and half pipes be removed, following which the Navelim panchayat had written to WRD asking for the same to be removed.
However, on Wednesday, much to the shock of the farmers, they found WRD officials carrying out cleaning the vegetation from their land and also surveying the area.
Given that the earlier irrigation project was not functioning and that WRD had recently assured to provide water supply to the fields, the farmers inquired with the WRD Division XIV as to what was the purpose of the work they were carrying out.
When they were informed that the labour present were just carrying out their jobs as directed and that the cleaning exercise was being done to allow the demarcation of a road that is proposed to be constructed through the fields, the farmers grew increasingly agitated.
While the farmers checked the survey plans for better understanding, immediate inquiries with the Navelim Panchayat and MLA’s office revealed that these two offices had not received any information about such a proposal. Moreover, the Navelim panchayat added that they were not intimated about the cleaning of the land activity of WRD.
The farmers, who have vowed to oppose the plans to build such a road through the fields, have also demanded that the land that WRD had acquired be returned to the farmers as the irrigation project for which the land was taken, had failed.
