Return of farmers’ land

Manohar Parrikar was personally in favour of returning the large tracts of fields belonging to Navelim farmers that were acquired by the previous Congress govt under the guise of expansion of the Margao sewerage project and to set up a buffer zone around the STP. When his ministerial colleague Avertano Furtado took up the matter with the govt, Parrikar set the ball rolling for the return of the fields under acquisition. The government had even adopted a cabinet resolution to scrap the land acquisition process and return the fields, but before the farmers could receive their land, Parrikar moved to Delhi. With Parrikar no more in the saddle, Furtado said he would pursue with the new government headed by Laxmikant Parsekar the long standing demand of the farmers for the return of the fields.