the goan I network
MAPUSA
Appealing to farmers of Mapusa not to fall prey to the machinations of BJP, Congress MLA Aleixo Reginald Lourenco said the downtown planning scheme would destroy Mapusa and Goa. “I appeal to farmers not to fall to the tricks of the BJP leaders who are out to divide you. Our ancestors protected the fields so that we can cultivate it for posterity. Do not sell the fields to these robbers,” Reginald Lourenco said.
The Curtorim MLA was addressing a news conference organized by the farmers associated with Shree Bodgeshwar Shetkari Sangh in Mapusa.
Reginald said that the policy of the BJP was to divide the farmers and get the downtown planning scheme implemented by hook or crook. “This downtown scheme will destroy Goa. If they succeed in Mapusa, they will then come to Curtorim. I don’t want it to happen anywhere in Goa,” he said.
To a question, the Congress MLA said that even in Curtorim, fields were lying barren and farmers refused to cultivate. “It’s only when I started offering them schemes and provided free machinery to plough the fields and reap the crop have, they agreed to cultivate the agriculture land,” Reginald opined.
He said the BJP leaders in Mapusa should adopt similar strategy and make the farmers to cultivate their field.
The Curtorim MLA accused the BJP leaders of pandering to the builders lobby and the downtown scheme was a builder’s delight. “By offering 33 percent for owners, 33 percent for open space for 33 percent for infrastructure, this government is becoming a builder,” he alleged.
President of Shree Bodgeshwar Shetkari Sangh, Sanjay Barde accused the task force committee Chairman Sudhir Kandolkar of dividing the farmers in Mapusa. “Sudir Kandolkar is adopting divide and rule method to drive a wedge among the farmers. He is falsely claiming that farmers have filled the forms and accepted the sheme,” Barde said.
