PANAJI
The sit-in protest staged by residents of Karapur-Sarvan village outside the Shri Shantadurga Temple for 161 days to oppose the House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL) project was finally called off on Saturday, after the Karapur-Sarvan panchayat issued a 'stop-work' notice to the mega-housing project.
Following the issuance of the notice, agitators at the protest site announced that while their sit-in protest was being called off following the acceptance of their two key demands -- opening the traditional pathway and the panchayat issuing a 'stop-work' notice to the project --all related legal and judicial battles would continue.
The announcement was made in the presence of Adv Ajay Prabhugaonkar, Dr Swapnil Salelkar, Swapnesh Sherlekar, Gaurish Ghadi, and others.
The agitators stated that the struggle regarding this project will continue, with the future course of action to be determined based on how the government cooperates with the ongoing legal and administrative processes to oppose and ultimately halt the project.
Based on the panchayat’s 'stop-work' notice, the protesters submitted a letter to Bicholim police to demand legal action in accordance with the notice, should construction continue despite the order. Residents have been strongly opposing the project and had two main demands, which consisted of keeping access routes open through the site -- which contains land traditionally used by villagers for farming and cultivation -- and having the Karapur-Sarvan panchayat issue a 'stop-work' notice to immediately halt the construction. Simultaneously, the struggle was pursued through legal channels, with cases filed before the High Court and the National Green Tribunal. Against the backdrop of this agitation, a delegation representing the protesters had also held a meeting with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. During the discussion, the chief minister is reported to have advised the protesters to submit documents regarding their tenancy lands to the government.
Additionally, a demand was made to the chief minister to immediately remove the protective fencing that had blocked the villagers' traditional pathway.
Considering this demand, the chief minister had instructed officials to open the traditional path.
The agitating villagers persisted with their protest, demanding that the panchayat issue a 'stop-work' notice to halt the project.
After the opposition raised this issue during the recent legislative assembly session, the chief minister announced that he would meet the protesting residents of Karapur once the session concluded. Accordingly, he met the Karapur protesters at Ravindra Bhavan in Sanquelim and held a detailed discussion. During the meeting, he directed the relevant government agencies to hold a joint meeting with the residents and to review the project's permits and documents.
As a result of these discussions, the Karapur-Sarvan panchayat issued a 'stop-work' notice on September 11 regarding the ongoing work on the HoABL project.
