Team Herald
PANJIM: The opposition Congress on Thursday alleged that the BJP government’s approach is anti-farmers, and said that the Pramod Sawant government is trying to ‘concretize’ hinterland and selling agriculture land to crony capitalists.
Addressing a press conference, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Patkar demanded that the government should not take away farmers’ land to construct the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Cotarli, Sanguem and sought to know the present status of land acquired by the government in the past and still remains unutilised.
He said, “Congress welcomes IIT but not at the cost of farmers’ land. We had opposed the IIT project at Shel-Melauli because people’s livelihood was affected by acquiring cultivable land.”
Patkar demanded to know the present status of land acquired in the past for the Nylon 66 project at Bhutkhamb-Keri, land acquired for SEZ developers at Verna Industrial Estate and also land lying unutilised within the Goa University campus at Bambolim and within the Goa Engineering College campus, Farmagudi. “Why this land cannot be used to construct IIT?” he asked.
The GPCC President said that the government should declare the total vacant land acquired and available to set up projects like IIT. He alleged that the Chief Minister is working on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help crony capitalists.
