SANGUEM
Farmers from Sanguem and Cotarli village have convened a meeting of farmers and other like-minded people from Sanguem town, Uguem Village and Devlamol at Shrison Plaza in Sanguem on Sunday at 3 pm to discuss the proposed IIT project at Cotarli-Sanguem.
Speaking to reporters, Constancio Mascarenhas, who is leading the farmers, said the proposed IIT is coming in a predominantly agricultural area and partly on a hillock which, if finalised, would cause severe damage to agricultural plantation and paddy fields in the area.
“The proposed site is home to many birds and other wild species, including large number of forest trees and seasonal streams. By proposing to set up the IIT project in Cotarli village, the government is destroying nature. The pristine beauty of Cotarli village will be destroyed forever for a project which has almost zero benefits for locals of Sanguem and Goans at large,” claimed Mascarenhas.
Taking into consideration the impact to the farming community, a special meeting has been convened only for farmers from Sanguem town, Devlamol, Cotarli and Uguem village at Sanguem on Sunday at 3 pm.
Mascarenhas has appealed to farmers from these villages and the town area to attend the meet in large numbers.
It may be recalled that at a meeting earlier this month on the proposed IIT project at Sanguem, people who attended the meeting convened by MLA Subhash Phaldessai had given a thumbs-up to the IIT project.
Recently, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said that a decision on the contentious issue will be taken after a joint inspection of a nearly 8-lakh square meters parcel of land identified in Sanguem.
Sawant had also said that the Sanguem site has been tentatively identified for the IIT campus and the process is underway.
