LOCALS OPPOSE LAND ACQUISITION AT SIRVODEM

Government’s plan to acquire three lakh-odd square meters of land adjoining the Sewerage treatment plant at Sirvodem-Navelim has come under stiff opposition from affected farmers and locals.At a meeting held at Sirvodem, the farmers vowed to oppose the government plan tooth and nail.Former Margao Municipal Chairperson Johnson Fernandes questioned the government’s logic behind huge agricultural land for the sewerage project. He pointed out that the STP at Sirvodem had been a nuisance for the local people for want of proper maintenance.Johnson expressed his full support to the agitation by the farmers and locals and urged the people to unitedly oppose the proposal.The farmers pointed out that even Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has made it very clear that the state governments should not acquire cultivable fields for the purpose of industrialization and urbanization. “How can the government acquire the agricultural fields when the farmers are cultivating the same”, they asked.George Barretto, Jose Paul Coutinho and others also spoke at the meeting. It has been resolved to lodge strong objections before the district Collector opposing the acquisition of their fields.