Team Herald
CUNCOLIM: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar found himself completely on the opposite side of the people of his land on Monday morning. Hundreds of people across the villages of Quepem, Canacona and Salcete gathered at Naqueri-Betul to protest the Goa government’s decision to allow his Defence Ministry to hold the controversial Defence Expo and Aero India at the Betul plateau, at his insistence and behest.
They did not even allow the Defence Ministry and State government officials to inspect the project site on Monday morning.
Over the last few days, speculation was rife that the Defence Ministry was planning to survey and inspect the site, and that mobilised the locals, who were ready to stop the inspection.
At 8 am on Monday, hundreds of villagers blocked the road and successfully prevented the officials from carrying out the inspection. An hour later, four Navy vehicles proceeded to the site. The locals immediately stopped them and questioned the occupants on their intentions as they appeared to be transporting heavy equipment and other material to the DefExpo site.
The villagers refused to believe the Navy personnel’s claims that this was part of their routine exercise, and finally, the personnel had to return.
At around 11 am, the mamlatdar came to take stock of the situation, but the villagers grew irritated with his questions about why they were there. After half-an-hour, Quepem Deputy Collector Shankar Velip arrived at the site with a large police force. Surprisingly, officials of the PWD, Electricity and other government departments were also present.
This confirmed their suspicions and led to a standoff between the Deputy Collector and the protesters, including GPCC president Luizinho Faleiro, Quepem MLA Chandrakant Kavlekar, Fr Maverick Fernandes, Fr Mendonca, Fr D’Cunha, ZP Kushali Velip, ZP Shanu Velip, and members of Orixtt Porjecho Awaz and NGOs like United Goan Foundation and Goans for Sustainable Development.
The locals had submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Collector during a protest in front of his office. They questioned why the government had not yet responded.
Deputy Collector Velip read out a clarification sent by the Collector on behalf of the State government, which stated that the government was not allotting land to the Defence Ministry on a permanent basis, but only for four days in two years. He stated that it was only an event-based proposal and that all structures would be demolished once the show was over. He also clarified that he was not a competent authority to respond to the villagers’ questions, but would convey the government’s position to them.
Velip clarified that 8 lakh square metres of land had been acquired by the GIDC and not GSIDC and that the GIDC had not handed over the land to the Defence Ministry on a permanent basis. However, the locals argued that RTI documents stated otherwise.
On the villagers’ contentions that the DefExpo would be held once in 1-3 years across 7- 8 days and that the land would remain unused, he said that as per letters of the Defence Minister, the Betul plateau was not a permanent venue and the DefExpo would be held only for four days every alternate year.
On the villagers’ arguments that the DefExpo would not benefit the locals and the land would be wasted for unproductive purposes, Velip read out the Collector’s clarification, which stated that the project would create many employment opportunities for the locals and would bring immense benefit in terms of large number of visitors, including foreign visitors, who would bring in significant revenue for the State.
When Velip stated that all structures would be removed after the DefExpo, the villagers raised questions about the runway, stalls and other logistics. Velip said he could not comment further and asked the villagers to write to the government.
Charles D’Silva of Orixtt Porjecho Awaz said that they would not allow the government to do anything on that land without taking the locals into confidence. He added, “We will come on the streets and will go to any extent to protect our land.”
The villagers vowed to continue protesting and to write to the collector once they receive a copy of the reply to their memorandum.
