Team Herald
PARRA: The farmers of Parra are disappointed with the decision of the High Court permitting the Electricity Department to erect poles pull 33 KVA high tension lines from Thivim to the Nagoa sub-station.
The ‘aggrieved’ farmers said that they would write to the prime minister demanding for justice in the matter as they are unhappy that their cultivable land is being destroyed and lost at the same time.
The farmers said that they want the chief minister to intervene and take corrective measures. “To erect these poles holes are being dug in the fields and hence the tractor will have problem while ploughing and at the same time it is unsafe for farmers as this is a high tension line. Few meters away from the existing 33 KVA line this new one is being placed and hence farmers will lose few meters of their land in the process,” a farmer said.
A Parra farmer Genevive Fernandes said that the government is contradicting its own stand vis-à-vis promoting community farming, by asking farmers to sacrifice their fields for pulling high tension lines.
“We have already ploughed the fields and now they will come with their trucks in the field to pull the lines across. They could have pulled the line across via a road route. This has caused severe loss to the farmer’s community in the village. Before entering our fields and starting the work they have not taken any NOC and neither notice was sent to us. According to the Goa Land Use Act 1991 agricultural land shall not be used or allowed to be used for any other purpose other than agriculture. Our lands have not been acquired and neither have they compensated us,” she said.
Another farmer and local, Joseph Pacheco stated that they were not informed about this line passing through their fields either by the panchayat or by the electricity department.
“We suggested some alternate routes to pull this 33 KVA high tension lines but they stuck to the route via the fields. To facilitate some guest houses in Calangute, these people are destroying our livelihood,” Pacheco said.
I will be losing an area of around 60 sq mts and besides me around 100 farmers from Parra and Verla Canca will be losing huge area of their fields. Due to these lines tractors have a problem going around in between those stay wires, sparks fall from the line and in dangerous for us working in the fields. The local MLA knows we are cultivating our fields as he himself provides us with the harvesting machine,” Pacheco said.
