MARGAO: Residents of Loliem village have written to their panchayat, urging the discussion of the proposed Film City project in the upcoming gram sabha meeting scheduled for Sunday. The move comes after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant confirmed the government’s plans for the Film City project in Goa.
Local residents and environmentalists are opposing the project, citing concerns about the village’s limited resources, the unnecessary nature of the Film City, and potential damage to the local environment and biodiversity.
Incidentally, one of the agenda items on the gram sabha is regarding preserving the biodiversity of the same plateau.
Against this backdrop, the CM’s statement which was made during the inaugural ceremony of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held on Monday, is significant as recently, the Loliem Sarpanch and Secretary had claimed that they had received no correspondence from any authority or the project proponent regarding the government’s plans for the Film City Project.
“As you are aware, the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) has proposed to build a Film City at Loliem village and this proposal is being given wide publicity through the media. As this will have tremendous impacts on the residents of Loliem village and their lives, livelihoods and environment, it is most necessary that the Gram Sabha of Loliem-Polem Village Panchayat discusses this issue at the earliest,” said Dattaprasad Prabhugaonkar in his letter to the panchayat.
“It is therefore earnestly requested to kindly include the following critical and most important issue in the agenda for the forthcoming gram sabha meeting to be held on Sunday- the proposal to build Film City at Loliem village,” Prabhugaonkar added.
