the goan I network
MARGAO
The MLAs of Margao and Navelim, Digambar Kamat and Luizinho Faleiro respectively on Monday joined the farmers and local residents of Navelim, Margao and Aquem-Baixo to set a 24 hour deadline to the Margao Municipal Council to dismantle the barricading erected in the cultivable agricultural fields opposite the Margao railway station for the storage of remediated Sonsodo waste.
While Faleiro warned that the people will be forced to take the law in their hands if the authorities fail to remove the barricade, Kamat has vowed to stand by the people from both Margao and Navelim come what may. Even as a resident Morris Carneiro threatened to lay down his life for the cause of the farmers, both Faleiro and Kamat asked to authorities to act fast before the situation turns ugly. The duo demanded that necessary action be initiated against the officer for misguiding the High Court before the agricultural fields were approved for the storage of the remediated waste.
What’s significant to note is that Faleiro and Kamat said
they will oppose the plan to dump or store the remediated waste in the paddy fields, irrespective of the legal status of the land in question on the ground that cultivable fields cannot be the site for the dumping or storage.
The two MLAs descended at the agricultural fields on Monday evening at the invitation of the farmers as they clarified that they were holed up in Delhi on Sunday because of the party programme.
The Navelim MLA pointed out that he was briefed by former MMC Chairperson Savio Coutinho on the district Court order dated January 22, 2015 saying the order is very clear that the land acquisition proceedings had lapsed and the farmers were not given any compensation. “GSUDA cannot claim ownership of the land since the acquisition proceedings had lapsed after the District Court order in 2015. If the farmers had received no compensation then the decision to dump the waste in the fields is blatantly illegal”, Faleiro said, while demanding immediate removal of the barricading for want of land title with GSUDA.
Addressing the farmers, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat said he has perused the district Court order granting relief to the farmers, adding that the GSUDA seemed to have no idea about the district Court order.
He also demanded to know why the Margao Municipality is not utilizing the 40,000 square meters of land acquired at Sonsodo for the storage of the remediated waste. “I want to make it clear that I will stand by the farmers. On one hand, the government is asking people not to keep the fields fallow, but here is a case wherein the fields are sought to be destroyed with remediated waste”, Kamat said, adding the farmers and the people will not allow the remediated waste from Sonsodo to find its way in the cultivated fields.
Stating that he tried to contact Waste Management Minister Michael Lobo, who is presently in Mumbai, Kamat said the memorandum of farmers will be submitted to Lobo as well as Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
The local residents demanded that the concerned officials should be taken to task for suggesting their fields for the dumping of waste. Social activist Cedric Da Costa sought to know from Faleiro if Sonsodo was a Congress failure. He reminded him that Kamat had toured the Sonsodo dump a day after being sworn in as CM and had sought three months to clear the dump. “Had the Congress CM been serious then, today this day would not have come and the farmers would not come on the streets”, Cedric said.
Another social activist Nevin Gomes said that waste, whether garbage or segregated cannot find its way into agricultural fields.
Kamat later told media that farmers will submit the petition to the Margao Municipality to remove the barricade from the fields within 24 hours, even as he assured to take up the matter with the Lobo either tonight or on Tuesday.
