The Goa Government has further fast tracked Mopa Airportland acquisitions as it has issued fresh notices under Section 9 and 10 of LandAcquisition Act 1894. The notices issued on January 25 comes just days afterthe Govt had notified under Section 6 its decision to declare 22,63,185 squaremetres of land in Varkhand, Casarvarnem and Chandel Panchayats as that forpublic purpose of building an international airport.
The Goan travelled to ground zero and found that noticeshave been pasted on the walls and notice boards of the Panchayats where willingland losers have been visiting to collect their forms even as eighty one of the763 people losing their lands have hardened their stance. “Why is theGovernment in a hurry when the issue has not been settled. They made the samepromise during Tillari Project too and see what happened to those people”,retorts Shambhu Gawas in Chandel.
From Chandel to Casravarnem to Varkhand, Goa Government hasbeen putting up notices at panchayats which cater to two or more villages often kilometres apart. “I have to walk for at least two hours across the plateauto reach my panchayat” says Sakhri Varak of Dhangarwadi, Casarvarnem.
Varak who can read a bit of Marathi and talk in Konkani isat a loss when asked how will she read her notice in English. The eighty onelitigants who had taken the Government to High Court over the emergency acquisitionfind themselves sidelined as none of them have been communicated formallyneither about the inclusion of their demands and objection in Section 5A Reportnor about the current notices under Sections 6, 7, 9 and 10 of Land AcquisitionAct 1894 that have been served to them in rapid succession over the past two weeks.“People below the plateau have been communicating to us that new notices andnotifications have been issued but we have formally not been communicatedanything” says Narayan Shamba Salgaonkar of Schemanache Advan under Varkhand Panchayat.The eighty one who had protested against emergency land acquisition have nowapproached the Supreme Court where they are fighting against Mopa Airport onthe grounds of adverse ecological impact. They also are returning back to HC next week with afresh petition citing injustice in the way their land has been acquired withouttheir demands being addressed to.
