Mopa: Even after the Warkhand Nagzar village panchayat issued show cause-cum-stop work order notice on Thursday, the contractor continued the work of Mopa link road with police protection under the direction of Land Acquisition Officer (LAO) Chandrakant Shetkar and Pernem Deputy Collector Rajesh Ajgaonkar on Friday.
During first half of the day, hundreds of police personnel were deployed at the site. When farmers asked the authorities to stop the work on basis of the panchayat notice, Shetkar apparently told the said it was irrelevant.
Farmers also alleged that Shetkar threatened to get them arrested if they tried to stop the ongoing work.
Meanwhile, a team of forest department officials also visited the site. However even after seeing the trees being bulldozed, they did not stop the work since “it’s a government project”.
Baya Varak, general secretary of Mopa Vimantal Pidit Jan Sanghatana, a forum under the banner of which the farmers are agitating said, “On Friday when the contractor started the work of link road on the direction of the LAO and Pernem Deputy Collector in presence of police, we produced the show cause-cum-stop work notice issued by the panchayat. However the LAO said the order is irrelevant as it’s a central government project,” Varak said.
When questioned about the next plan of action, Varak said, “We have now decided to file complaint with Superintendent of North Goa Police against Shetkar, Dy Collector Ajgaonkar, DySp Sudesh Naik and Pernem PI Vikram Naik for manhandling women and children during the survey, for trespassing, threatening people and damaging property. If the SP fails to act then we will approach National Green Tribunal.”
Denying the allegations, DySP Sudesh Naik said that no one was ever manhandled or threatened. “Also, the contractor has all the relevant permissions to carry out the road construction work,” DySP Naik said.
