MARGAO
On the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Assumption on Sunday, a group of farmers descended at the sprawling fields at Madel on Saturday evening.
They were apparently preparing the way for the Parish Priest of Holy Spirit Church, Fr Amandio Valladares to get down to the fields and facilitate cutting and blessing of the corn on Sunday morning coinciding with the Feast of Assumption.
While the Parish Priest, parishioners and the farmers are scheduled to assemble at the fields at 7 am on Sunday, anxiety was writ large on the faces of the couple of farmers who were in the fields of their ancestors over the fate of their agricultural land.
These farmers have been waging a sustained battle for close to two decades now just to see the day when the government will return back their agricultural fields forcefully acquired by the government around 2002.
The agricultural fields in question, admeasuring over one lakh square metres, was acquired by the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) during the Manohar Parrikar regime when Margao MLA Digambar Kamat was the Urban Development Minister to set up a truck terminus.
The government had bulldozed with the land acquisition against the wishes and sentiments of the people and farmers of Madel for a paltry compensation of Rs 5 per square metre.
The controversial truck terminus project, however, was strongly opposed by the farmers and citizens of Fatorda and Madel, forcing the government to beat a hasty retreat.
The Congress government that came to power in 2007 had tried to exploit the land commercially, but the plan was abandoned again in view of the protests from the farmers and residents.
Incidentally, a portion of the acquired fields has now been marked on the SGPDA in blue colour, indicating that the previous PDA Authority had planned to change to house an IT Hub.
Farmers on Saturday, however, demanded that the government return back their agriculture fields for cultivation. A farmer Inacio da Costa pointed out that the farmers have been cultivating the fields without fail every year, saying that they will continue the battle till the fields are returned to them.
“We have opposed the truck terminus and we do not want any other project on the agriculture land,” he said, adding please leave the fields to the farmers for cultivation.
