MARGAO
Yet another academic year has begun and the fate of the education hub planned by the government at Davorlim to accommodate most of the Margao schools to decongest the commercial capital faces an uncertain future.
TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai was candid in conceding that the proposed education hub at Davorlim has been put in cold storage for the moment, even as Director of Education, Gajanan Bhat said the department is waiting for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s nod on how to go about the issue following strident opposition to the shifting of Margao schools to the proposed hub by Davorlim villagers.
The Education Director told The Goan on Wednesday that the department has completed the job of demarcation of the acquired land at Davorlim. “We are awaiting the Chief Minister’s nod before taking up development of the acquired land. It’s for the Chief Minister and the government to take a call on the issue,” the Education Director remarked.
On the other hand, TCP Minister, Vijai Sardesai, however, made it clear that the contentious issue has been put in cold storage for the moment.
Sardesai said the villagers of Davorlim have raised a host of issues concerning the education hub, the traffic problems faced by the villagers and the land required for the public utilities for the villagers. “I have made it clear to the Chief Minister that unless the government addresses the issue in totality, the education hub project should
not be rushed in by the Education department,” Sardesai asserted.
While the managements of many a city-based school had come out strongly in favour of the education hub on grounds that shifting the city schools to Davorlim will help decongest the city, Davorlim villagers opposed the project tooth and nail on grounds the proposal does not promise and benefit the local populace, even as they demanded that the acquired land be reserved for the locals for their developmental needs.
The special gram sabha held on October 30 last year, which was attended by hundreds of Davorlim villagers, saw villagers opposing the education hub on two counts. One, the project will choke the village with traffic snarls, contending that concentration of the schools in one place would create traffic chaos on the narrow village roads. That’s not all. The villagers further contended that the land acquired by the government under the guise of multi-purpose utility project, is the land belonging to their ancestors, have been handed down to successive generations for the common good and betterment of the local community.
Land admeasuring 1.15 lakh square meters was acquired by the Digambar Kamat government around 2009-10, not exactly for the education hub, but specifically for a multi-purpose utility project. Objection to the land acquisition proceedings from day one with the Congress government bulldozing with the project and the villagers equally resisting the plan, before the government capped the land acquisition process around 2010.
The land acquisition process was set in motion by former South Goa District Collector, G P Naik’s brief note dated November 9, 2009. The note, however was silent on the nature of projects that would come up on the land after its acquisition, only stating that the multi-purpose utility project would cater to the needs of all the inter-linked as well as independent projects for the overall development of the society, wherein the needs of the individuals from educational, social and cultural aspects are catered.
It was only when the land acquisition was capped around 2010 that it became apparent that the land may be allotted to existing Margao-based schools.
