MARGAO
Beleaguered Loutolim farmers have pinned their hopes on the High Court to stop the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways from bulldozing its way with the new High Level Borim Bridge through the age-old khazan fields.
A glance at the writ Petition filed by Salvador Alves and 39 others in the High Court shows that the farmers have highlighted various issues, environmental and socio-economic issues, absence of Detailed Project Report etc.
In their petition, the farmers have prayed to the Court to squash and set aside the notification issued to acquire land for the bridge project and to restrain the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) and other respondents fromm effectuating the land acquisition notifications and to revoke the notifications.
The farmers petitioned that no prior studies were carried out of the environment and the socio-economic features of the land proposed to be acquired. “The entire proceedings were based on the false premise that the CRZ area involved was only about 5,500 sq meters, while the actual CRZ area involved is over 1,00,000 sq metres. The prior knowledge of the nature of the land and that a large part of the area is khazan land protected under CRZ Notification would have had a significant impact on the decision making and alignment selection”, they stated.
They pointed out that the Consultants and Respondents completely ignored the total dependence of a large number of members of scheduled tribes and other indigenous communities on the lands proposed to be acquired.
No cost benefit
analysis done
The impacts of the Project are not considered at all. Even the nature of the land and environment are not understood. There is no cost-benefit analysis of the Project, or a comparison of the alternatives in terms of the costs and benefits. Loss of fisheries and rice cultivation, loss of agricultural and grazing lands, loss of forests and wildlife habitat, losses due to flooding, loss of land in general, loss of environmental services, additional fuel costs due to longer travel distance for majority of traffic on Ponda-Margao route, etc have to considered, but there is no cost comparison done. This makes the process of selection of alternative 7 completely arbitrary, the petition added.
The lands sought to be acquired include large stretches of unique, fertile agricultural lands with unmatched productivity of fish and paddy sustaining the scheduled tribes and other indigenous communities residing in these villages, which cannot be interfered with under any circumstances. Furthermore, the acquisition proceedings run contrary to the National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2007 and other mandates which requires, inter alia, that a Social Impact Assessment study be conducted, and the preparation of a Rehabilitation and Resettlement Scheme. The present Petition also seeks to challenge the proposed displacement of indigenous communities without their consent in violation of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Farmers pointed out that khazans of Loutolim and Borim are World Heritage sites.
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Impact on agriculture
and allied activities
The khazans of Loutulim and Borim are a World Heritage Site displaying the highest productivity and unmatched engineering of the khazans, which must be protected not just for the economic benefits that accrue from the land, but also as an agricultural-engineering wonder. However, the Consultant does not even consider the khazans. Alternative 6 for the project as identified by the consultants engaged by the respondents has negligible impact upon the khazan lands and also conserves most of the hilly, agricultural, grazing and forest lands of Loutulim, Borim and Queula villages which are proposed to be destroyed under alternative 7.
The khazan fields provide the members of the tenants associations complete sustenance and income. The paddy, fish and vegetable cultivation provide sustenance to the farming families. In addition, the annual auction of fishing rights of the sluice gates generates substantial income which is used to maintain the bunds and sluice gates, while the rest is distributed to all the tenants. The khazans of Loutulim village are possessed and maintained by 7 tenants associations, of which the khazans of Carbot, Cantor, Macasana & Bebdo Tenants Association and the Atliom Khazan Tenants Association are proposed to be completely destroyed by the construction.
That the entire khazan lands are highly eco-sensitive as they are fully made up of river silt (clay) and face total inundation by sea water regularly. Any interference with the khazans completely destroys its fertile, rich nature, irreversibly. The destruction of any part of these khazans will also interfere with the water movement needed for the survival of paddy and fish crops in adjoining khazan lands, making it impossible to cultivate any of the remaining khazan fields. The rich fisheries of the khazans will be destroyed, and the entire economic production of the khazans will be lost, if the proposed alignment of the New Borim bridge is not changed.
No necessity for
bridge project
There is no requirement for the construction of a new bridge since the existing bridge is being renovated with a design life of 20 years, which fact was not considered by the Respondents or by their Consultant. One of the main basis for the project is the false assumption that the existing bridge is not going to be operational, since the traffic studies, analysis and design do not consider any division of traffic between the new and the existing bridge.
The farmers submitted that no consultation was carried out with the Panchayats, the Gram Sabhas, or the affected indigenous communities; that the notifications were issued without considering the environmental and socio-economic aspects of the various options of alignments and solutions, without choosing the least destructive solution, and without obtaining necessary environmental clearances such as CRZ clearance, Environmental Clearance and Forest Clearance, in contempt of the directions given by the Supreme Court in its judgment in the matter of The Project Director, Project Implementation Unit Versus P.V. Krishnamoorthy & Ors., Civil Appeal Nos. 3976-3977 of 2020.
The area required for the project has been reduced from 3,93,184 sq mts notified under section 3A to 3,40,253 sq mts notified under section 3D. The area is reduced by dropping the arm that was necessary to serve the traffic between Margao and Ponda, which forms the majority of the present traffic on the existing bridge, and by reducing the width of a section from 60 mts to 40-45 mts. The bridge and its approach roads are therefore not going to serve the traffic on the Borim-Margao road, which is the majority of the existing traffic. The deletion of the part of the project that would have served the majority of the existing traffic confirms that the proposed acquisition is purely for future coal transportation from the Mormugao Port, sought to be carried out by a few private corporations purely for private profit, and not for any public purpose, but rather against public interest.
