Question arises over why land has remained unutilized after it was acquired over a decade and half ago
The sprawling Quitol-Naqueri plateau adjoining the ONGC complex is in the eye of the storm with speculations rife that the IDC acquired land may play host to the Sunburn festival.
MARGAO
The sprawling 12 lakh square metres of land acquired by the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) on the Quitol-Naqueri plateau in Quepem taluka, with the avowed objective of setting up a Food Processing Park around a decade and half ago, is back in the news again -- will the acquired land be the venue of the 2024 Sunburn festival?
Or, is it just a ploy to hold the festival at the same old venue, or shift the festival to Mopa citing the chorus of opposition in down South?
As these and other questions have become subject matter of debate, triggering fear and anxiety amongst the residents of Betul and neighbouring villages of Salcete, one question the government may have to answer is why the IDC-acquired land has remained unutilized since it was acquired over a decade and half ago.
The Quitol-Naqueri plateau plays host to around 12 lakh square metres of land acquired by the government around a decade and half ago for the proposed food park and ancillary industries. A drive down on the Fatorpa-Betul road reveals a vast carpet of green vegetation across the sprawling land.
The land in question has never been utilized for the purpose for which it was acquired, the food park industry. Other than hosting the Defense Expo when late Manohar Parrikar was the Country’s Defense Minister in March 2016, the sprawling land has been lying unutilized over the years with the proposed food park yet to see light of the day.
With the Sunburn row raging in media circles, locals seemed aware of the row that has been raging over the last three days as the land being zeroed in for the controversial Sunburn festival. They, however, are not certain whether the government will dare grant permissions for the festival on the plateau despite reservations expressed in many quarters. “We have come across through the media that Quitol could be the probable venue for the Sunburn festival. How can the organizers start bookings when no proposal to hold the Sunburn festival has come to the local panchayat body”, remarked a villager from Betul.
In the past, Betul villagers had opposed the Defense Expo on the acquired land on the plea that the Expo was just a precursor for the establishment of a Naval base on the acquired land or to make the Defense Expo a permanent venue on the plateau, fearing displacement of the local inhabitants from the area.
Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa, who stays in the neighbouring village of Fatorpa, has red flagged the festival from taking place at Quitol-Naqueri Betul plateau. "I was shocked to hear that the Sunburn is being shifted to South Goa and that too in my Quepem constituency. This has only caused fear and anxiety in the minds of the people of my constituency”, he said.
The Congress MLA has plans to move a Calling Attention motion in the House on the opening day of the Goa Legislative Assembly session, beginning from Monday on the issue. “While there’s fear and anxiety not just in Quepem, but across South Goa over shifting of Sunburn to down South, the government is silent on the raging controversy,” he said, while asserting that the government must come clear on the issue on the floor of the House.
