Notwithstanding the opposition from the local governing body — Gram Sabha — the Laxmikant Parsekar led government is firm on its decision to go ahead with the State’s first Information Technology (IT) Park at Chimbel. The government is of the view that the land does not belong to the Gram Sabha and it is a project that the coastal State, which is now looking at to be an investment destination wants to reduce the IT brain drain.
“People have objection to every government project, if we abide by all then no development will take place. IT park is not just meant for the people of Chimbel but for Goa in whole,” Info Tech Corporation chairman Subhash Phal Desai told Herald.
After its failure to develop an IT habitat, the Government is in the process of setting up the IT Park on an area of over two lakh sq mts atop the Kadamba plateau. The land, which was in possession of Directorate of Heath Services, has been transferred to the IT department. Currently, the consultant is in process of drafting the master plan for the project, which is expected to be ready by mid September.
However, while on one side government is moving full swing with the project, the villagers have resolved to petition Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to preserve the agricultural land with water bodies in its vicinity as cultural heritage. The decision was taken during the Gram Sabha meeting held on Sunday that once again raised strong objection to the project.
The members and elected panchayat members clarified that none of them supported the IT project and villagers had rejected it unanimously at least twice. The villagers have now decided to raise a mass agitation to oppose the project in agricultural land, on which tribals were still cultivating and eking out their livelihood.
Sarpanch Manisha Chopdekar said that despite writing a letter to Chief Minister seeking details about the project, total land acquisition and how it is going to benefit the locals, there has been no reply. “The people of Chimbel are kept in total dark over the project. We are not going to accept this,” she said.
Village panchayat secretary Ashish Naik said that Panchayat body and locals were not taken into consultation, while going ahead with such massive project called the IT park project. “If the project will benefit the locals then the Government and the IT companies should hold meetings in our village explaining how will it benefit the people of Chimbel,” he said.
Government had recently announced that a total of 31 reputed Information and Technology (IT) companies and start-ups have registered under the IT Investment Policy for setting up units in IT Park at Chimbel and Tuem ESDM.
When asked about the public opposition, Phal Desai said that the land does not belong to the locals but was with the Health Department and now handed over to IT. “I admit that people need to be taken into confidence and that we should create awareness as how the project will benefit them, especially in form of employment generation,” he said.
“It is not the issue of one panchayat but the entire Goa needs this project, which will help in reducing brain drain. We need to convince the people,” he explained.
