the goan I network
PANAJI
Fourteen years after land was forcibly acquired from them for a cricket stadium but left unused and unpaid for, some 35 farmers from Tivim and Maulinguem have knocked the doors of Governor Satya Pal Malik, to get back their land.
The farmers told the Governor in their written petition that the land has not been used all these years and they have also not been paid any compensation.
“For fourteen years the land is lying without any use and therefore it is not required by the Government. It has to be returned to the persons from whom it was acquired,” the petition signed by Naneshwar Vaigankar, who is president of the collective of these land-losing farmers said.
The land in question, admeasuring nearly 5-lakh square meters, was controversially acquired by the Directorate of Sports in 2006-07 when former deputy chief minister Dayanand Narvekar was in the cabinet and also doubled up as president of the Goa Cricket Association.
The project, however, ran into trouble after some of the land-losing farmers challenged before the Bombay High Court the legality of the Sports Department leasing the land to GCA for the purpose of building an International cricket stadium.
Over 1,30,000 square meters in Tivim and an
additional 3,65,000 square meters in the adjacent Maulinguem village in Bicholim taluka.
The challenge before the High Court did not go through the whole hog because while it was pending the government took the decision to shelve the project altogether. The decision to scrap the project at that Tivim-Maulingem site was taken by the government of the late Manohar Parrikar after the latter returned to power post the 2012 elections.
The government, however, did not take any call on the question of what will be done with the land. The State government also did not take the land-losing farmers into confidence over the issue.
Meanwhile, in their petition to the Governor, the farmers pointed out that they used to cultivate a significant section of the land and the price fixed by the land acquisition officer at the time was far below its fair value.
They have now asked Malik to use his good offices and get the government to hand over the land back to them so they can revive its use for agriculture.
