TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Launching a scathing attack on the BJP-led coalition ahead of the general elections in Goa, Congress has categorically demanded that the large amount of land acquired for the proposed Greenfield airport project at Mopa be returned to the villagers.
Responding to media questions at a briefing on Monday on his stance over the proposed second airport, party chief John Fernandes described the acquisition as ‘fraud’ and a ‘scam’. “There is no question of any airport other than Dabolim, which already exists and continues to exist till posterity. It (Mopa) is a fraud and scam,” he thundered emphatically.
The party president reiterated the land acquired for the “unborn baby” (airport project) should be reverted to its rightful owners. “It is a so-called unborn baby. No licensing authority including the defence has given it clearance as yet and neither was it obtained. The land should be given back to the farmers under the Forest Act,” he said, calling Mopa a ‘myth’ created to fool the Dhangar and Velip communities in Goa.
He however, declined to comment under which political party’s tenure the acquisition process began.
“Mopa was not a Congress decision. Let us not discuss that… It does not exist… I have been saying since 2005 that Mopa is not required for another 100 years,” he added.
The party has been reiterating that Mopa project is nothing but an attempt to divide North and South Goa.
Several villages have been fighting to get back the land arguing it was acquired by unfair means and unjust compensation. Another political party in the election fray Aam Aadmi Party has also expressed its opposition to the project blaming both Congress and BJP for the ‘scam’. The Congress has further alleged that huge plots of land are ‘benami land purchases’ by politicians. He however refrained from naming them.
Similar opinion was echoed by AAP’s South Goa candidate Swati Kerkar who said she has documentary proof to expose all those who have purchased the land around Mopa.
