Residents say at LS elections will stand by those who stood by them
GUILHERME ALMEIDA
MARGAO: Migrant inhabitants of Moti Dongor slum must have certainly heaved a sigh of relief with the election code of conduct finally in force. They now know for sure that no demolition can take place during period of the code.
But as the sword of demolition continues to hang over the migrants, the buzz atop the hillock is simple but loud and clear with just a month to go for the April 12 poll – that the migrants this time will support only those who have stood by them and will help save their structures from demolition.
The migrant hub – where around 2,200-odd votes are at stake – has been a Congress stronghold for a decade now. Ever since former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat dumped the BJP to embrace the Congress in mid-2000, the migrants voters had switched sides in favour of the Congress, giving unassailable lead for Kamat, leaving the BJP red faced and way behind.
Much water has, however, flown down since August 5, 2013 – the day when South Goa Administrator of Comunidades Sangeeta Naik ordered the demolition of the 210-odd illegal shanties atop the hillock. The migrants had been literally running from pillar to post since then to save their structures. Presently, the High Court has stayed the demolition till further orders. Says Tara, one of the first settlers atop Moti Dongor in the 70s: “This time, we have decided to rally behind those who will protect the residents from displacement. Our very future is at stake and the residents will support the candidate and the party who promises us rehabilitation”.
His colleague Maulasaab Balbati, a petitioner in the High Court, echoed similar sentiments. Maulasaab was vocal in saying that that the Moti Dongor residents are aware of the people who had come to their rescue when they were served the demolition notices and who left them abandoned in their hour of need. “This time round, the residents will not vote blindly. They will take into account factors such as who had come to their rescue when the hammer was about to fall on our structures”, he said. Both Tara and Maulasaab said the elders representing the five different groups of people inhabiting Moti Dongor will soon sit together to take a common stand to support only those people who helped them in their hour of crisis.
Incidentally, BJP’s probable candidate, Narendra Sawaikar, along with Margao BJP leaders had a meeting with the leaders of Moti Dongor during his visit to the city on Friday as part of the interaction process with citizen groups in the run up to the polls.
Says a local political observer: “One has to understand the fact that BJP is presently ruling the state. Some of the BJP workers had come to the rescue of the beleaguered residents when they were served the demolition notices on August 5 last year. Moreover, we should not forget that the BJP is in power today in the state. Certainly, the residents cannot afford to antagonise the ruling dispensation by aligning with the opposition when the demolition hammer is staring at them”.
Though Moti Dongor does not figure in the rehabilitation scheme announced by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for the residents of Zuari Nagar and Camrabhat, Moti Dongor residents feel the CM’s rehabilitation package would go a long way in securing their interests in the future.
Local BJP workers must be certainly upbeat this time round, hoping for a turnaround in the party fortunes at Moti Dongor this coming election. It is not out of place to mention here that many residents of Moti Dongor were ferried in 17 buses to Narendra Modi’s Vijai Sankalp rally at Merces. The battle has just begun.
