This is a curious case of the proposed IT Park at Chimbel. A case which baffles ordinary minds where acres of forested land and a century old lake stands between silent residents on one side and a forceful IT Minister Rohan Khaunte and his team on the other.
This is a case where a suppressed opposition is watching helplessly as the project steadily makes its way. A case which has huge personal and family interests with the lure of real estate in the background. This is a case where a few activists, environmentalists, politicians and a small section of villagers have been raising their fists of fury.
This is the case of a land demarcated for the proposed IT Park, the very land where an earlier proposal for garbage treatment plant was rejected twice by government bodies for the fear of the project destroying the natural resources of the land.
This is a case where the panchayat speaks in two voices. One voice which includes the sarpanch and panchas speaking on support to the people’s agitation. And the same voice showing allegiance to the powers that be and goes into hibernation. This is a case where muscle power dominates over people’s power with such authority that every dissenting voice is silenced with brute force.
The opposition to the proposed IT Park at Chimbel may be genuine, but it doesn’t have the legs to carry it forward. The people of the land are divided in various ways and seeking legal recourse looks like an unlikely solution.
Agitations are won by the people of the land. If the Greater Panaji PDA is booted out, it is solely because of people’s power. If the government was forced to change its mind on the proposed IIT campus in Canacona, it is because of people’s sustained opposition. If coal expansion and river navigation stopped in its tracks, it’s only because of the people. Goa has a history of how people’s power has prevailed over the high and mighty and forced the government to change course.
The best way ahead for any government would be to go with its people. Where debates, discussions and consent form crucial components of decision-making. There are however other dubious ways to achieve the end result, by winning over people and reducing the opposition to a minuscule minority.
It is surprising to the onlooker that government is trying to log in with IT, while many parts of Goa are struggling with even the basics like electricity supply and water. A glitter here and there doesn’t tell the entire Goa story. If Panaji was shining in all its IFFI glory recently, the picture is starkly contrasting in the tourism capital Calangute and several other places where residents struggle daily for their power and water supply. A case in point is the fury people displayed at the 9-hour marathon Calangute gram sabha meeting recently.
Bulldozing with projects against the wishes of the people can invite the wrath of the people. And given the precarious situation of the government, public resentment at this stage doesn’t augur well for the future. The Chimbel case is an exception to this theory only because the majority has chosen to look the other way.
