Madel farmers want their fields back

the goan I network
MARGAO
Beleaguered farmers of Madel on Sunday made a fervent plea to the Agriculture Minister and local MLA Vijai Sardesai to use his good offices and return back them back their agricultural fields.
While conceding that Vijai has been assisting them in the cultivation of their fields, acquired by GSUDA over a decade ago, the farmers said the local MLA can help and return their fields to them since he is holding the portfolios of Agriculture and TCP in the coalition government.
A group of farmers assembled near their agriculture fields at Madel, which were acquired by Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) over a decade ago to set up the controversial truck terminus.
What has made the farmer to come out and demand the return of their fields is the move by the disaster management authorities to explore the possibility of setting up the cyclone risk mitigation centre on land admeasuring 4000 sq mts in the acquired land.
A farmer Agnelo D'Costa told the media that Vijai had in the past helped them to cultivate the field though they were acquired by the government to set up the truck terminus.
"But since we have been cultivating the fields for over a decade now even after the acquisition,
we request our MLA to ensure the return of the fields to the farmers," he said.
Other farmers also echoed similar sentiments. They pointed out that since Vijai has been helping the with fertilizers and seeds, he should intervene now and try and get their ancestral fields back to them for cultivation.
Though the TCP Minister had put his foot down to the Cyclone Risk mitigation centre porposed at the Madel fields, farmers as well as citizens are apprehensive that the attempt made by the government to utilize an area of 4000 sq mts out of the total acquired land admeasuring 1.37 lakh sq mts is a ploy to slowly utilized the acquired land for some public utility purpose.
A local resident Jude Da Costa pointed out that when GSUDA had acquired the fields to set up the truck terminus, the farmers were kept totally in the dark. "The authorities had just rushed in with the acquisition and displaced the farmers," he said.
Camilo Barretto, a resident of Fatorda, pointed out that successive governments had acquired land around Madel-Ambaji belt and other areas of
Fatorda for projects, without taking steps to compensate or rehabilitate the displaced farmers.