Do we need to produce engineers by killing our farms, ask Sanguem farmers

CLINTON D’ SOUZA 

clinton@herald-goa.com 

SANGUEM: It’s an idea that is just not germinating with the Sanguem farmers. An IIT in Sanguem is not a problem, but why bring it on the very spot that was rejected and that too by destroying their plantations and farmlands?

While the project, mistakenly pitched as against IIT, has indeed been against the project, the operative issue here is not the IIT but the place where it is coming up. And even more than the manner in which farms and plantations have been chosen, is the apathy in having  conversations with  those from the soil on a consensus on the way forward.

The Sanguem protest against IIT follows the one in Melauli village, where farmers have used that land to cultivate cashews. 10 lakh square metres of this land was allotted in the Sattari taluka’s Guleli Panchayat, North Goa. The Melauli Panchakroshi Gram Bachao Andolan. (MPGBA) spearheaded the movement which ultimately led to the IIT project getting scrapped.

MPGBA argued that if the cashew-growing community was to be shifted, it would take 40-odd years to rebuild a new site and make it productive.

The flashpoint: Why should an IIT be built by raking away farmer’s livelihoods and affecting lives?

Juliane D’Mello, who is from a family of cultivators said, “We have grown to cultivate these fields and taking care of our family with what we produce, but today the authorities are destroying our livelihood, they claim that they will give us compensation, but will they be able to compensate our life that we have here, the emotions we have and what are we going to do next in the future? Today we cultivate fruits and vegetables what will we do in the future?”

A farmer, Maria Cruz, who claims to have a 30-year-old plantation at the proposed site, rejected the idea of compensating the farmers with an alternate place.

“We have a fully-grown plantation in the proposed area and it will take another twenty years for the plantation to come up if we are shifted elsewhere,” claimed Cruz. “We are at a loss for words over the ruckus allegedly caused by pro-IIT supporters at the meeting of farmers at Sanguem last Sunday. MLA Subhash Phal Dessai is working more for personal benefits and at the cost and loss to the farming community,” said Cruz.

Another farmer, Anfa Mascarenhas, “We are here to fight on our own and we do not want any support from politicians to save our lands from being grabbed and used for the IIT,” said Mascarenhas.

Naila Mapari informs her that she and her elders have been cultivating the farmland at Cotarli village within the precincts of the proposed site for IIT since she was a youngster.

“The farmers said they were willing to go to any extent but would not allow the IIT project to come on the pristine land at Cotarli-Sanguem which is surrounded by wild trees and a mountain full of flora and fauna. Sanguem is one of the biggest taluka in the state, set up IIT anywhere in Sanguem but not in our fields at Cotarli village.

Meanwhile when contacted the Minister for Social Welfare Subhash Phal Dessai he said that the IIT complex that is proposed to come up on the 7.5 lakh sq mtrs land in Sanguem will be built without harming the surrounding environment and urged the people to support the “green project”

“I urge the people of Sanguem and Cacora to support this good educational project which will lead to the generation of many employment opportunities and self-employment avenues for local youth,” Phal Dessai said. 

He said the project will be constructed on the available plain land and no hill-cutting or filling of low-lying lands will be taken up.