Farmers from Madel making a plea to the SGPDA Chairman, MLA Wilfred D’Sa for reverting GSUDA acquired fields at Madel to green zone status. Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO: Over a decade and half after the government rushed with the acquisition of the lush green paddy fields for a controversial truck terminus, beleaguered farmers of Madel, Fatorda went into battle-ready mode in support of their just and genuine demand – for the return of the acquired fields.
With the SGPDA bracing up to prepare a new Outline Development Plan (ODP) for Margao, the farmers have pinned their hopes on the PDA to revert the fields to agriculture zone from a Special Commercial Zone for a Tech Hub.
The farmers along with citizens visited the SGPDA office and made a fervent plea to the PDA Chairman, MLA Wilfred D’Sa, with a one-point objective – to restore the status of their cultivated paddy fields to the original agriculture zone as it existed in the Margao ODP 2006.
The Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) has forcibly acquired the fields admeasuring 1.37 lakh square meters over a decade and half ago, ignoring the protests from the farmers.
Says farmer Agnelo Fernandes: “These lush green fields belonged to our ancestors. We had never kept the land fallow, but cultivated the same over the years. Even after the GSUDA had acquired the fields, we did not stop cultivation. Today, we have conveyed to the SGPDA Chairman that the farmers want to cultivate these fields in the future as well”.
Another farmer, Milagres Fernandes echoed similar sentiments. Saying the government had forcibly acquired the fields admeasuring 15,000 square meters belonging to his family, he said “we have come to the PDA Chairman with the hope that he would mete out justice for the famrers. D’Sa is supporting agriculture in Nuvem constituency in a big way. We have pleaded with him to change the zone of the Madel fields from special commercial zone back to agriculture.
He said local politicians should get the fields reverted as agriculture zones before the coming election if they want the support of the farmers and other citizens. “The politicians are now saying they are in favour of making the entire land agriculture zone. Why did they not make the fields a green zone when they were in power”, he questioned.
In the memorandum, the farmers maintained that the land was acquired for Truck Terminal by the then Government, saying they neither received nor accepted any compensation, but have been in adverse possession of the fields for more than 15 years. “These low lying paddy fields act as catchment area for flood waters of the River Sal which runs along the western boundary of our fields”, the memorandum said, demanding to know why a Commercial Info Tech hub zone is now shown on the Agricultural Land in the ODP 2028.
MARGAO: SGPDA Chairman, MLA Wilfred D’Sa has come out in support of the demand of Madel farmers. He said the fields should come back to the farmers since they have been cultivating the fields over the years.
He promised to talk to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for returning the fields back to the farmers, since the fields belong to them, who want to continue agriculture of the land. “Let the fields come to the farmers. Goa government is promoting agriculture in a big way. I am also in support of the farmers as I want people to cultivate the fields”, he said, while promising to talk to the Chief Minister to explore the possibility of changing the zone to agriculture.
MARGAO: If the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) had forcibly acquired the fields at Madel at the northern entrance to the commercial capital, the agency had literally bulldozed its way on the city’s southern side, acquiring lush green fields, opposite the Margao railway station around a decade and half ago.
The GSUDA had acquired the fields admeasuring around 28,000 square meters opposite the Margao railway to set up a transportation centre.
With the Madel farmers intensifying its decade and half long agitation for the return of their fields, farmers from Aquem-Baixo in Navelim are also bracing up for a similar battle with the SGDPA setting in motion the process to prepare a new Outline Development Plan (ODP) for Margao.
Says farmer Claudius Dias: “Farmers of Navelim cultivating the fields opposite the Margao railway station have waged a sustained battle for the return of their ancestral agricultural land since day one. Last time round, when the SGPDA had opened the OPD, we requested the PDA to change the zone from transportation centre to agriculture. We will again knock the doors of the PDA to get back the agricultural status for these fields”.
Claudius along with other farmers has been waging the battle to stop the government from displacing them from their ancestral fields. They had hit the roads around 2009 when the then government drew up plans to rehabilitate people displaced by the expansion of the Rawanfond junction.
Since then, the farmers had opposed tooth and nail any attempt to drive them out of their ancestral land as was amply evident when the Margao Municipal Council made an abortive bid to dump Sonsodo RDF on the fields last year.
The farmers again took to the streets when GSUDA went about the job to demarcate and secure the fields with a wire mesh last year, raising fears that the government has drawn up plans for the commercial exploitation of the fields.
“We eke a living from these fields. We grow paddy in the fields and go for vegetable cultivation during the rest of the year. Our farmers even sell their produce to the Horticulture Corporation. Instead of supporting us to take agriculture forward, attempts are being made to dispossess us from the land of our ancestors”, Claudius said.
