CURCHOREM:
He was addressing media persons at Betul, after a large number of people from Betul, Naqueri, Cananguinim, Khola, Velim, Fatorpa and nearby places prevented two separate groups of defence personnel from visiting the Betul plateau.
While one group had gone for an unrelated mock drill, the other group had gone to conduct a site inspection for the proposed DefExpo.
“When local panchayats and locals take a certain decision, it is duty of a government to consider this decision, instead of neglecting it. My party and I will support Orixtt Porjecho Awaz (OPA) and the locals who are opposing DefExpo and aero show at Betul,” said Faleiro.
“The BJP government is trying to bulldoze the very spirit of democracy as this agitation is a people\'s movement. Once land is given to the defence ministry, it is difficult to get back the land,” said Faleiro.
Citing the instance of Dabolim airport, Faleiro added: “The airport is actually a civilian airport but it is now controlled by the defence ministry.”
Quepem MLA Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar insisted that the State government should respect the sentiments of the locals, if they do not want the DefExpo project to come at Betul.
“The OPA has submitted several memorandums and reminders to government authorities, but the OPA has not received any reply from the government side.”
“The government should not wait till the agitation is intensified,” cautioned Kavlekar.
OPA Secretary Freddy Fernandes claimed that locals have been agitating since the last four months.
“We have regularly intimated everyone about our opposition to the proposed DefExpo at Betul, but the government has refused to pay heed to our concerns.”
“We want government authorities to have interaction with local panchayats, MLA and local villagers about this project. If the government tries to silently go ahead with this project, there will be a law and order problem,” warned Fernandes.
Another local, Charles D\'Silva claimed that the deputy collector had no answers to various queries by the locals, when they confronted him at the site on Monday evening.
“When we inquired about the DefExpo project feasibility report, he replied that he has no knowledge about the project report,” D\'Silva added.
“The people will not allow any development pertaining to DefExpo at Betul plateau,” insisted D\'Silva.
