Team Herald
CANACONA: Five of the nine Loliem panchas have lent their support to the residents in opposing the proposed IIT campus in the village.
Hundreds of people from Carai and Mashem along with five Loliem-Polem panchas attended the meeting at Maxem, to oppose the proposed IIT project.
Denis Fernandes, president of the Citizens Committee of Loliem recalled that at the last gram sabha, the issue was not discussed even though they had submitted a letter to the panchayat.
The five panchas – Caitani Dias, Shailesh Pagi, Santan da Costa, Virendra Naik and Rajesh Naik stated that they are with the public.
These panchas are supporters of the sarpanch and members of the ruling group who back IIT campus on Bhagwati plateau.
The five panchas have assured that they will support the people in the gram sabha on the issue.
During the meeting, Denis Fernandes, Abhijeet Prabhu Desai, Mandar Aiya, Kishore Painginkar and Amey Puranik explained to the people as to why they (locals) need to oppose the proposed project on the Bhagwati plateau.
The locals also questioned as to how the authorities can take a decision without taking them into confidence and raised their voices against the IIT campus saying that basic amenities like water, electricity, health facilities and better roads should be provided first.
They lamented the failure of the authorities to address garbage and other ecological problems in the village. It maybe recalled that the locals from Borus, Maik, Iddar, Tamnem and Namas-Tamnem in the jurisdiction of Poinguinim and Loliem-Polem panchayats had attended that meeting in large numbers and had voiced their opposition to the proposed IIT project.
They stressed that right now the IIT project is not needed and questioned as to how the comunidade can lease out huge land which was under cultivation (Kamath) for centuries and deprive the locals of their livelihood.
The villagers condemned Loliem-Polem sarpanch for making statements in the media that all villagers are supporting the project.
Finally, the villagers had called upon the authorities to consider their views before proposing any projects in future.
The meeting was also attended by Shailesh Pagi, panch of Iddar ward, Suresh Pagi, Keshav Pagi, Pranali Prabhugaonkar, Manoj Prabhugaonkar, Vishant Goankar and Nishant Prabhudessai.
