MARGAO
As the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) is on the job to scrutinize the objections and suggestions before finalising the Outline Development Plan (ODP) 2031, farmers from Madel and Navelim have a question or two for the MLAs of Margao and Fatorda - Digambar Kamat and Vijai Sardesai “ will the duo take up cudgels for the farmers by using their positions in the SGPDA to get the planning body to revert the status of their fields to agriculture, if not returning the fields to the farmers?
This question assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that the two MLAs, including Kamat, when he was in the opposition, had made a common cause with the struggle of the farmers in the recent past.
That’s not all. Both the MLAs share a close rapport with Urban Development Minister Vishwajit Rane, who is heading the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) “ the agency that acquired the two agricultural fields around two decades and a half ago. Incidentally, the fields were acquired by the GSUDA when Kamat presided over the Urban Development portfolio during the Manohar Parrikar regime.
SGPDA officials in private pointed out that though the beleaguered farmers have been fighting over the years with a plea to the PDA to revert the Zones of the two fields to agriculture, GSUDA’s say is crucial to decide the fate. Incidentally, Vishwajit presides over both TCP and Urban Development portfolios, having control over the SGPDA and GSUDA, respectively.
Madel fields
The lush green fields at Madel admeasuring over 1.37 lakh square metres, were acquired in haste by the then government to set up a truck terminus. Beleaguered farmers were paid a pittance, around Rs five per square metre. The project, however, never saw the light of day and attempts to bulldoze with the project such as an amusement park and a bus stand, met with strong opposition.
In the last ODP notified in 2019, a portion of the acquired fields was painted in blue, suggesting that the part of the land has been bestowed the status of a special commercial zone.
Incidentally, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai was the TCP Minister when the SGPDA finalised the ODP 2028 when the portion of the acquired fields was given the status of IT hub. However, in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls, the Fatroda MLA was categorical in saying that he is even ready to submit a letter to the SGPDA demanding that the entire patch of agricultural fields is reverted to agriculture.
With the ODP now in the process of being finalised and which will remain in force till 2031, questions are being raised about whether the Fatorda MLA will take up the issue with the SGPDA and the GSUDA.
Fields near Margao railway station
Farmers from Navelim and Aquem-Baixo had waged a sustained battle over the last two decades to get their agricultural fields admeasuring 28,000 square metres to set up a transportation centre opposite the Margao railway station.
The GSUDA acquired the fields opposite the Margao railway station and later changed the zone to C2 commercial. That the GSUDA had last secured the fields with barbed wire fencing indicates it has a project in mind. Farmers, however, have not lost hope of the SGPDA and government reverting the zone of the fields back to agriculture.
They now pin their hopes on Margao MLA Digambar Kamat to bail them out of the situation. For, Kamat had taken up cudgels for the beleaguered farmers when the Margao municipality tried to bulldoze with the dumping of RDF when the bioremediation of the Sonsodo waste was taken up two years ago.
Farmer Claudius Dias recalled how Kamat along with other Congress leaders descended on the fields when the Margao municipality and government were hell-bent on dumping the Sonsodo waste on the fields.
“Kamat had even participated in the meeting chaired by then deputy chief minister and Agriculture Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar in support of our demand to revert the status of fields. We are confident that the Margao MLA will support our cause and ensure that the PDA changes the zone in the ODP 2031,” he said.
Dias pointed out that a group of farmers will call on Kamat soon after his return to use his good office with the government and fulfil the long-standing demand of the farmers. “We would be happy if GSUDA and the SGPDA revert the zone from C2 commercial to agriculture so that these lush green fields forever remain as a green zone,” he added.
