the goan I network
PANAJI
A dozen opponents of the Chimbel IT Park project challenged IT Minister Rohan Khaunte to an open debate on the proposed IT Park.
Addressing the press in the city on Wednesday, the opponents to the project said that if Khaunte is convinced that the project must go forward and is ‘very clear’ about it, then they were ready to take him head on.
Asked Rama Kankonkar, who condemned Khaunte’s lack of transparency on the project, “If he is clear about the project, why not make a presentation to the villagers?”
Kankonkar, backed by his fellow activists, then threw down the gauntlet of an open debate.
Kankonkar also maintained that the government had no business celebrating Opinion Poll Day if it did not want to consider peoples’ opinions regarding the IT Park project.
Meanwhile, Rudolf Fernandes invited all those keen on seeing why there was so much opposition to the project to come to the Kadamba plateau electricity sub-station at 3:30pm on Sunday to “see how they have raped the land.”
Fernandes also strongly advocated an opinion poll on the issue. He felt assured that 95% of the villagers would oppose the project in such a poll.
Speaking on the destruction of the environment, Arturo D’Souza pointed out that Khaunte was back-tracking with claims that the IT Park would take up just four or five thousand square meters.
“Will Khaunte give an affidavit saying he won’t exceed this area?” demanded D’Souza who said that with pressure, Khaunte was keeping on verbally reducing the size of the land required for the project.
The villagers say the proposed project will take up at least four lakh square meters of land in an eco-sensitive area.
However, any project exceeding 20,000 square meters requires an Environment Impact Assessment to be done, which is why they feel Khaunte is back-tracking.
