TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: There seems no end to the decade old saga over the acquisition of land admeasuring 8000 sq mts in Cuncolim for the proposed administrative complex.
Nearly two months after the Parrikar government capped the land acquisition process by handing over the acquired land to the Cuncolim Municipal Council, land loser Vishnu Desai and his family will once again go on an indefinite hunger strike from December 17 outside the Cuncolim Municipal Council demanding the return of the acquired land for agriculture. Vishu and his family have received the support of the Goenchea Xetkarancho Ekvott, which has decided to extend its solidarity with the family.
President of GXE Dilip Hegde told Herald that the Parrikar government has completed the land acquisition proceedings without taking into account the sentiments of the Vishu Desai family. “We had requested the government to at least rehabilitate the family, if not return of the fields, in the proposed administrative complex, which did not find favour with the chief minister,” Hegde said.
The Vishnu Desai family had been running from pillar to post since the Cuncolim Municipal Council proposed acquisition of the land opposite the Cuncolim bus stand to construct an administrative building complex. The CMC had mooted the proposal when the civic body was ruled by the BJP, but the land acquisition proposal met a natural death since it did not find favour with then Cuncolim MLA Joaquim Alemao.
Incidentally, the proposal raised its ugly head when the CMC once again approached the government for land acquisition during Alemao’s second stint as Cuncolim MLA, prompting Vishnu and his family to go on a hunger strike, forcing the former MLA to make a hasty retreat.
Surprisingly, even as the family along with the GRE were pinning their hopes on the Parrikar regime to drop the proceedings, the deputy collector, Land Acquisition capped the proceedings by handing the acquired land to the Cuncolim Municipal Council earlier this year.
