Despite the opposition from the farmers and the public, the then Sports Minister Babu Ajgaonkar acquired land from them to construct the sports city and cut the trees that stood on these lands. The locals began an agitation against this project. Ajgaonkar, on the other hand kept making statements that the land that was acquired for the sports city, was laterite and there were no trees.
And he invited the media from Panaji to show that there are no trees. In the similar fashion, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant also repeated this history, of not inviting local media for the inspection, and bringing only those journalists who worked in the capital city.
The waiting panchayat members were invited for interaction after four hours. They were called to meet in another administrative office, after four hours of wait, as the space where they were seating was not enough to accommodate all.
When the irked local panchayat members asked the CM why they were kept in the dark about his visit to Mopa Airport, they were told that this was not a deliberate attempt but it happened by mistake. “I wanted to understand the issues first and later I would have called the local panchayat members to visit the project and to discuss the issue. I mistakenly thought that the local journalists would also accompany the media in the same bus that traveled from Panaji. There was no reason to avoid the local media,” said Sawant.
While replying to why panchayat members were not invited to accompany him, Dr Sawant stated that he had come as a Chief Minister and wanted to discuss with the administrative officers associated with the airport regarding the problems before operations begin. “I wanted to check the site and works that must be carried out before the commissioning of the airport, and offer some suggestions. That is why the local panchayat members were not invited during my visit,” said Dr Sawant.
Later while discussing the issues with the panchayat members, Dr Sawant assured that all the issues will be resolved phase by phase.
Panchyat members make their own seating arrangements
CM Pramod Sawant invited the Sarpanch and Panch members who had gathered to discuss the issue with him, to sit in a hall. However, the hall was small and there was no seating arrangement, so the Sarpanch and Panch members had to make their own seating arrangement, which made them agitated. According to them, this showed how lethargically the system at the proposed airport was working.
Torse Sarpanch Prarthana Mote claimed that the residents who had offered their farm land for the Mopa airport project were not yet given any employment or business opportunities. She also expressed her anguish over the fact that not a single panchayat member was invited during the CM’s visit.
Mopa Sarpanch Subodh Mahale stated that panchayat members and the local MLA not being invited during is visit is unfair. “This is a wrong and such incidents should not happen in the future,” warned Mahale.
He also demanded that those who have lost their land for the project, should be compensated first, and the locals should get jobs on a priority basis.
No invite for local media
The local jaurnalists in Pernem were left surprised after they were not invited during the visit of CM Pramod Sawant to the Mopa airport. Further on, the reporters waiting at the main gate of the airport were not allowed to enter along with the journalists from Panaji in a special bus.
