ll these years, the farmers from Mapusa have sacrificed their land for the development of Mapusa but now these same farmers have been left to suffer on their own when it comes to carrying out the farming activities in the constituency
From 1950 to till date, the farmers from Mapusa have given up their land for the development of the town, such as the Mapusa Municipal Complex which was constructed by the Portuguese.
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Besides this, there are government projects that have come up on land previously owned by the farmers, such as the Mapusa bus stand; fish market complex; vegetable market complex; and the Bardez Administrative Building.
It doesn’t stop there; there is land that has been acquired for the construction of the new Mapusa bus stand and the Ravindra Bhavan project.
Sources stated that even though the farmers have made this sacrifice for the land development, none of the farmers were given a shop at the bus stand or anything in the sub yard either.
Sources added that the farmers who gave their land for the present Mapusa bus stand till date haven’t received any compensation.
At present around 22,000 sq mts of land, which is acquired for the proposed new Mapusa bus stand is still lying abandoned, while around 50,000 sq mts of land that has been acquired for Ravindra Bhavan is under process.
However leaving aside the land acquired for Ravindra Bhavan, more 80,000 sq mts of land has been sacrificed by the farmers in Mapusa for the town’s development.
Presently the major issue that is haunting the farmers in Mapusa is the deletion of 1,300 farmer’s names from the Land Use register. These 1,300 are occupants of the agriculture land in Mapusa whose names are missing on the land use register while names of landlords are clearly mentioned.
The farmers from Mapusa have already approached the local body demanding to restore the names. Further a protest was held when the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) Prakash Javadekar had come to Goa.
The farmers tried to express their grievances before the MoEF Minister but their efforts were in vain as Javadekar failed to meet the farmers.
Upset over the development, these Mapusa farmers claimed that if the Minister had come to Goa for the farmers bill and agriculture, then the Minister should be briefing farmers directly, as they are the concerned people in that regard.
They pointed out that instead of talking to farmers, consumer forums and other organisations such as Goa Bagayatdar and their directors were called.
“The farmers are the people who cultivate the agricultural land and not the consumers,” they said.
“The government cannot give the agricultural land in Goa on contract basis but can only give it on lease. But nonetheless, we are not going to allow the implement the Contract Farming Bill. This bill will finish the farmers,” the farmers added further.
During their protest, they demanded for the immediate scrapping of the Farm Bill 2020; as well as for the immediate restoration of the names of the 1,300 occupants, whose names were deleted from the land use register.
The deletion of names of the 1,300 occupants from the Land use Register has caused panic amongst the farming community, as this means many of them may lost the land, which they have been cultivating since decades now.
“If the government policy claims that the one, who cultivates, is the one, who owns the land, then it will be a shame if farmers lose their land. The names of the 1,300 tenants whose names have been deleted must be restored to prevent this from happening,” said Sanjay Barde President of Shri Bodgeshwar Xhetkari Sangh.
There is also the issue of 12 lakh sq mts of agricultural land in Mapusa, where farmers have been unable to cultivate for various reasons.
Farmers blamed the work of construction of footpaths and parapets along the roads, which they say has blocked the entry to the fields, so much so that it is difficult for them to walk to the fields even.
This has made it difficult to take a tractor or any other machinery to the fields to carry out farming related activity. Farmers added that if they try and take the tractor or any machinery through the footpath, there is the likelihood of the footpath suffering any damage and if that happens, then the municipality takes action against these farmers, who as it have other expenses to manage.
Another reason is the nullah flowing from the upper-lying area of Khorlim, to the low-lying area of Mapusa, which further passes through the fields.
“Since this nullah was not properly constructed, water flowing through the nallah used to enter into the fields, which led to water logging in the fields. This destroyed the cultivated crop, which forced the farmers to stop cultivation,” said a farmer.
“Since there is no way for the water to flow, the water has accumulated, due to which, for the past several years, the farmers are unable to cultivate the fields in Khorlim area. While few farmers are cultivating in Bodgini and Kamakhajan ares, similar issue is in Morod side where only few farmers cultivate their land.
What has upset them the most is that no matter how many times they try and approach the authorities, they are only made to run from pillar to post but no action is taken on the ground. For instance, when they have complained to the district magistrate regarding these issues, they were further directed to the mamlatdar but till date their problems have remained unsolved.
Farmers go back to the issue of the 22,000 sq mts of land that has been acquired by the government for the proposed new bus stand.
In this case too, the farmers whose land has been sacrificed have had to fight to get their compensation money.
Another major revelation was how they were alleged deceived into believing another project would help the community but instead it turned out to be helping private real estate players only.
They explained how a bypass road was also constructed through the fields; and for this the farmers, were assured that the bypass would ease the traffic congestion on the Khorlim road by connecting the bypass road to Assagao.
However, instead of easing the congestion, they pointed out that the road has not been connected to Assagao and instead, commercial buildings have come up on this land.
“Farmers always supported and contributed for the development of Mapusa and in future too we will do so. But the government should first take the farmers into consideration before taking up any project. The ‘planning’, which is done without taking the farmers into confidence, is a vision to benefit builders”, Sanjay Barde added.
Land of neighbouring villages such as Canca, Guirim, Thivim, Camurlim has also been taken up into the ODP (Outline Development Plan) of Mapusa and this land has been marked as commercial land.
Farmers questioned the need for the same and pointed out that Mapusa municipality cannot presently make the correct use of the land which is already in its jurisdiction.
They added that the ODP on agricultural land is coloured and marked as a settlement zone.
“The Planning Development Authority (PDA) has no right to colour and mark the area as settlement without consulting the collector. If zoning is changed then the collector has to mention it on the map. However on the ODP of Mapusa, the areas are directly marked as settlement,” the farmers added.
Barde also alleged that the Cunchelim ground issue is also part of the manipulation on the land use map where it is shown as settlement. “Permission was given to the comunidade by PDA but the comunidade here should have approached the collector for conversion sanad but instead of doing that, the plot development work started. The PDA manipulates and colours the land on the map but they have to understand that this coloured area on the map can’t change the zoning of land,” Barad added.
Coming back to the land identified for Ravindra Bhavan, the farmers added that the authorities have taken in writing that they are giving their land for the project; but they say that the government has not given them anything in writing, like a legal document, regarding the same in return.
Farmers further alleged that private real estate projects that have come near the fields release their sewage into the field, which has also contributed to the destruction of the fields in Mapusa.
They also blamed the sewerage treatment plant that is coming up in Mapusa, which has also similarly damaged the land and left their fields uncultivable.
Farmers added that the government even tried to commercialise some agriculture area of Kamarkhajan but the farmers remained steadfast and objected to the same.
Farmers reiterated that the names of the 1,300 tenants have been purposely deleted for ulterior motives, as the there are no empty columns left in the land use register to write down the names of the tenants.
