TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Trajano D’Mello on Monday questioned the acquisition of the land recently inaugurated as part of the Saligao junction beautification plan.
He said that while the inauguration and road broadening plans in Saligao were praise-worthy, it was also necessary to question the manner in which the land was acquired.
“The fundamental rights of the farmers have been crushed. Without following any rules or laws, and with lots of threats, the government claims to have acquired the land. But, the farmers have not received any intimation,” said D’Mello. He added that the government claimed it was comunidade land.
Tulsidas Kudnekar, a farmer who owns part of the 3,000 square metres of acquired land, said he had not received any notice of permission to acquire the land.
“Forget the compensation for the land; we didn’t even get any notice. On the contrary, we got threats saying we would be hurt if we raised our voice,” said Kudnekar. A memorandum signed by eight affected farmers was handed over to the CM, who then forwarded it to the tourism minister. It eventually reached the Governor, but still no inquiry was conducted into the matter.
D’Mello stated that development, which was at the cost of poor farmers, was a “jungle rule of grabbing people’s land to broaden roads.” He claimed land grabbing in the name of development began in Arpora-Nagoa.
Responding to Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar’s recent comment about a nine-percent increase in tourists, D’Mello said, “Such a statement is shocking. It is known that foreign tourists have dropped by over 30 per cent and every tourist-related business is complaining of poor revenue. When one tries to think of how he has arrived at this figure – is he counting the migrant laborers as tourists?”
D’Mello also suggested that EDM festivals be discouraged as most foreigners visited Goa for peace and tranquility rather than loud music.
