CURCHOREM
Claiming that people from surrounding panchayats have supported them in opposing the proposed Defence Expo at Betul, the Betul-Naqueri panchayat has threatened to intensify its agitation if the government does not address their grievances.
In this connection, the Betul-Naqueri panchayat members along with few locals have decided to meet South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar and BJP State President Vinay Tendulkar at the MP's office at Margao on November 17 at 11 am, to voice their grievances over the proposed DefExpo project.
“Before coming up with this central government's project, the state government should have taken local bodies and people into confidence, which they have failed to do so,” remarked Betul-Naqueri Sarpanch Krishna Sawant Dessai.
Insisting that residents of Betul-Naqueri were not alone in opposing this project, Dessai added: “We have support of people from Khola, Fatorpa and Velim in opposing the DefExpo, because huge tracts of land were already acquired for projects such as Food Park and ONGC, which seems to have been long forgotten by our government.”
“We have limited land and if more central government projects come to our village, we will have no land for projects beneficial to our own village. Locals don't have a problem if some education hub or projects which creates employment local people is set up in our village. But this DefExpo will surely not benefit villagers and on the contrary, a large chunk of our land will go for this project,” Dessai added.
“We will meet South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar and BJP State President Vinay Tendulkar and seek an explanation on the statements made by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar. If we are not convinced by their explanations, we will continue to oppose and protest against the project. Panchayat members along with the villagers will come on roads and will even block the highway, if needed,” warned Dessai.
Another Panch member, Delfy Barbosa, mentioned that Goa could not afford to house numerous defence establishments.
“Goa is a small state and defence establishments are already set up at Dabolim, Bambolim-Panaji, Vasco and other places. So, where is the need to bring about another similar project at Betul?” asked Barbosa.
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Don't take locals for granted, warns Kavlekar
THE GOAN NETWORK
CURCHOREM
Warning the State government not to take the people for granted, Quepem MLA Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar has stated that locals in the area are already disappointed with the government for failing to set up industries to generate employment in the area.
“Many village panchayats has already adopted resolutions in their gram sabhas to oppose the proposed DefExpo. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar should not take the people of Quepem for granted,” said Kavlekar, while speaking to The Goan.
“There is strong opposition from various parts of Quepem constituency, mainly because 150 acres of land was acquired a decade ago to set up a mega industrial project by IDC. Till date, there has been no sign of this project, which was aimed at generating employment to locals.”
“But, the plan to use this acquired land for another purpose has only further angered the people, as they are already upset over the government's failure to set up industries on the land acquired at Betul,” Kavlekar added.
“I request Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to do a rethink on bringing the DefExpo at Betul. This expo may be shifted elsewhere and should use the land acquired at Betul to bring in industries and projects which will generate employment to locals," the MLA said.
