The Fatorda Block Congress Committee on Friday said the party is not against development, but hastened to add that it will oppose illegalities in Fatorda under the guise of development.
The committee has pooh-poohed the love shown by Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai towards the scheduled tribes and demanded to know why the MLA has got agricultural land converted at Varca for a hotel project.
Addressing the media, Congress spokesman Avinash Tavares challenged the Fatorda
MLA to execute a gift deed with the land owner so that the area which has been used to set up a local farmers’ market remains with the ST farmers. Tavares said it is sad and surprising that the TCP even wants to designate a new zone for Sardesai’s property at Varca by seeking clarification from the agriculture department whether the land is suitable for cultivation.
Piedade Noronha and Ethel Lobo said the Congress is not opposed to development
in Fatorda, but it should be sustainable. Piedade claimed that the Fatorda MLA has inaugurated what she alleged as illegal projects in Fatorda. “The local market inaugurated by the MLA on his birthday falls in a set-back area, raising questions whether the market will remain forever or no. That’s the reason why we had approached SGPDA Chairman Mauvin Godinho to rehabilitate the farmers permanently,” Piedade said.
