CANACONA
A day after PBR (People’s Biodiversity Register) was approved at the Loliem-Polem gram sabha, the Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) of Loliem-Polem held Van Mahotsav (plantation drive) at Bhagwati Plateau.
Bringing its opposition to the fore, BMC asked to "Handover the plateau to us, we will turn it into a biodiversity hotspot."
On Sunday, BMC's ‘Van Mahotshav’ swiftly turned into a protest drive, with many youngsters turning up with placards shouting slogans to 'Save the Bhagwati Plateau' from deforestation opposing any sort of developments, and least the IIT campus.
Placards with slogans such as ‘Scrap all Amendments’, ‘Save Bhagwati Plateau’, ‘Goychi Ranam Sambalatt’, ‘Leaders Aikat Ulo Ranamcho’, ‘Scrap FCA Bill 2023’, were displayed at the site, amid a plantation drive on the plateau near Bhagwati temple.
BMC Chairman Dattaprasad alias Manoj Prabhugaonkar along with other members Cajy D’Silva, Sam alias Sameer Naik, former sarpanch & panch member of Loliem-Polem Sachin Naik spoke against any move of the government to force any type of developmental projects on Bhagwati plateau upon the people of Loliem-Polem.
Sam said: "Whether the elected representatives are giving life or death to the people, what makes them play with the atmosphere, nature? Are they trying to kill us with slow poison? We will not keep quiet. We will oppose this forest amendment, and if not, forget about getting water in future, we will not get even proper oxygen to breathe. With this amendment, the government is destroying us, all the lives on the plateau, especially the ecosystem will be destroyed. This FCA Bill should not take place at all."
Cajy D’Silva said: "The flora and fauna will be history in the village if Bhagwati is concretised in any manner. When talks of biodiversity are held, the first thing that comes to our mind is the Bhagwati plateau."
Cajy also reiterated that when the issue of IIT at the Bhagwati plateau rose in 2016 and the government scrapped it following a people's uprising, the villagers had already resolved in the gram sabha that there should not be any type of development on this plateau. When we prepared the PBR of our village which people approved on Friday that we get the source of biodiversity on this plateau, be it flowers, fruits or animals, besides there are certain heritage structures such as the Bhagwati Temple, a well, which nobody may know who built them. So to preserve these and many other unknown heritage structures of this plateau, this site should be handed over to the BMC and we will turn it into a biodiversity hotspot of the village."
Sachin Naik said the government should not display this type of arrogance to the people of Loliem again when the IIT project or any type of development on the Bhagwati plateau was rejected forthwith by the locals in 2016.
When asked why this IIT is rumoured to make a comeback in Canaocna, Prabhugaonkar informed that he is not aware, but said the people of Canacona will oppose any project on the Bhagwati plateau.
"When the news spread that the government is building an IIT campus at Bhagwati plateau, thousands of people gathered to oppose it tooth and nail. Even a special gram sabha was held wherein more than 1,900 people gathered to reject the IIT project against a meagre less than 100 people favouring it," he said.
Sam Naik stating that the village is not suitable to host an infrastructure of that magnitude, said: "Government in the name of development is running a lobby for land-scam and attempting to destroy our village. The people of Sanguem had forced their MLA to retract from his constituency on the IIT project, and after coming here to Loliem with the same 3-4 people, he is telling us he (MLA) will dare to see who stops him. If he (Sanguem MLA) wants to know the unity and power of the people of Canacona, then we are ready for him. We will not only oppose but will not allow such people to even step into our village," warned Sam Naik.
