the goan I network
MARGAO
Davorlim residents have been virtually left high and dry as the land of their ancestors which was acquired for a multi-utility educational complex has no provision to meet the basic infrastructural requirements of the village.
While the South Goa district Collectorate had acquired land admeasuring 1.15 lakh square meters at Davorlim during the Digambar Kamat regime in order to shift Margao’s educational institutions in the village to ease traffic congestion, pleas by the Davorlim village panchayat to reserve a portion of the acquired land for garbage sorting and segregation, to build a chapel at the traditional Cross have apparently fallen on deaf ears.
Umpteen correspondence and letters made by the Davorlim village panchayat to the district Collector to allot land for the infrastructural requirements of the village have failed to evoke any response from the district authorities or the government till date.
Outgoing Davorlim Sarpanch Tulsidas Desai said that the village panchayat never received any reply from the district administration to the host of letters on reservation of the acquired land for the village development. “The panchayat had been knocking the doors of the district Collectorate to allot 5,000 square meters of the acquired area for garbage sorting as per the gram sabha resolution, but in vain. The village is indeed facing a major problem on garbage disposal for want of land. And, it is an irony that our very own land cannot be used for garbage disposal but is sought to be utilised for shifting of Margao schools to ease traffic congestion in the city,” he lamented.
What’s interesting to note is that Davorlim villagers had laid its claim on a portion of the acquired land at every gram sabha meeting, but in vain.
Inquiries by The Goan has revealed that the district Collectorate, which had acquired the land has since handed over the land in question to the Education department for setting up a school complex without making any provision for allotment of a portion of the land to meet the village infrastructure.
When The Goan contacted Additional Collector, Johnson Fernandes to shed light on the land acquisition, he pointed out that the district administration has already handed over the acquired land to the Directorate of Education for development.
“The acquired land is now in the custody of the Education department since it was acquired for the purpose of shifting the city schools to the outskirts. There’s no provision made in the project for allotment of land for garbage sorting or for the construction of the Holy Cross Chapel,” Johnson said.
