Pin their hopes on NGT and HIgh Court for justice
The lush green khazan fields of Loutolim cultivated by the farmers this season.
MARGAO
Nothing seems to deter the farmers of Loutolim from cultivating the khazan fields – neither the acquisition of their fields for the proposed new high level Borim bridge nor the legal battles pending before the National Green Tribunal and the High Court.
Undeterred by the government’s move to acquire their lush green khazan fields for the proposed new Borim bridge, farmers returned back to their fields as usual for the sowing operations.
If the president of the Carbot, Mascasana & Bebdo Tenants Association, Loutolim Alberto Pinheiro is to be believed, the farmers have completed over 90 per cent of the sowing operation in the khazans, including the fields acquired by the PWD, National Highways for the proposed bridge.
“The khazans are unique agricultural fields created by our ancestors through years of hard work and labour. Farmers have been cultivating the khazans fields year after year and this year is no exception”, Alberto said.
He added;: “The government may have bulldozed its away by going ahead with the acquisition by rejecting our contention. But, farmers have cultivated the fields as usual this season too”.
What seems to drive the farmers is their hope that the judiciary will eventually do justice in their battle to protect their ancestral lands from acquisition.
Beleaguered farmers had knocked the doors of the National Green Tribunal, Western Bench, Pune with a plea to stop the land acquisition on a host of grounds, including the ground that the khazans are eco-sensitive zones and the government had failed to comply with the mandatory requirements. The farmers have also filed a writ petition before the High Court with a plea to stop the land acquisition proceedings.
Alberto and the farmers pin their hopes that the NGT will do justice to the farmers sooner rather than later. After adjournments of the matter for want of replies from the respondent agencies, farmers now expect the Tribunal to pronounce the verdict at the next date of hearing scheduled next month. “We are confident that the Tribunal will do justice to the farmers by giving the judgement in our favour. For, the government agencies have bulldozed their way with the land acquisition process by throwing the mandatory requirements to the winds”, he added.
Alberto and other farmers have lamented that when the government has unveiled its plans to protect the age-old khazans, the national highways have gone ahead with the land acquisition proceedings. “We had made it abundantly clear from day one that the farmers are not against the new Borim bridge, but has demanded that the alignment should avoid the khazans”, he added.
In their petition before the High Court, the farmers have prayed 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 from effectuating the land acquisition notifications and to revoke the notifications.
The farmers have contended 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 metres, 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.
