TEAM HERALD
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CALANGUTE: While farmers of Bicholim taluka have welcomed the Goa Tillari Irrigation Project, their counterparts in Saligao and Calangute are apprehensive about the project and have even wondered if they are likely to benefit from the water supply at all.
While the Tillari pipeline has reached parts of Saligao, the recent visit of some officials of the Tillari Irrigation Project to demarcate the area to lay the pipeline in the fertile fields of Calangute has irked farmers in the area.
While farmers have strongly suspected that the main beneficiaries of the Tillari water are the many hotels along the Calangute coast, they were also upset that they were not consulted by the Tillari officials during the process to demarcate the pipeline.
“We do not understand why everyone is after our paddy fields. First, the local panchayat forced the filling of paddy field areas for road-widening work without any approval or land acquisition. And now, the Tillari project officials want to lay the pipeline by dividing fields into two parts and that too, without consulting us,” complained a farmer.
“The government wants us to abide by the law of the land, but when it comes to government projects, rules are broken by permitting illegal filling of paddy fields,” said the farmer.
It may be recalled that farmers of Saligao have been voicing similar apprehensions about the Tillari project for over a year and had even raised their grievances at various meetings. Their grievances were also supported by the Pilerne Citizens Forum, with some PCF members alleging that “the pipeline was going directly to hotels in Sinquerim.”
When contacted, Calangute MLA Michael Lobo said he was unaware of recent demarcation activities by the Goa Tillari Project officials.
Responding to complaints that paddy fields were being filled with permissions, Lobo replied: “The road-widening work was the need of the hour, so paddy fields were filled up without the required permission. This was not intended for any commercial project and was being done in public interest.”
“I will settle the aggrieved farmers personally though land acquisitions were done while filling their paddy fields. I will not leave a scope for complaint,” added Lobo.
