Local people of Lolim protested against permission to lease land.

Mega project will prove to be death knell for villagers

CANACONA: Villagers of Lolim held a silent protest on Sunday following the decision of the Gram Comunidade to lease out their land for a film city project on the Bhagwati plateau on a 99-year lease basis. This decision was taken during an extraordinary general meeting held at Shri Keshav Devalaya.

The size of the land to be leased is 10 lakh square meters. The approval from Comunidad will now facilitate the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) to acquire land for setting up infrastructure for the film entertainment industry.

Architect Om Prabhugaonkar, one of the Comunidade constituents who expressed his protest at the meeting, said it was disappointing that such a decision had been taken by Comunidade members despite people not being in favor of the project.

“People who want the Film City project do not understand the importance of the Bhagwati plateau. During the meeting, he did not allow botanist Dr. Ashish Prabhugaonkar to speak on the ecological aspect of the plateau.

Despite repeated requests, details of the project were not disclosed. This mega project will be the death knell for our villagers,” Prabhugaonkar said.

Holding placards with slogans like ‘We are for Bhagwati Fatar’, ‘Communide belongs to the indigenous people’, ‘We want our plateau for our future generations’, the villagers held a peaceful protest outside the ‘devalaya’.

Manoj Prabhugaonkar, president of Lolim-Polem Biodiversity, said that the local people want to preserve their land, while the Film City will not benefit them in terms of job opportunities.

“The condition of Canacona Industrial Estate is poor and only a few units are functioning at present. It is plagued with water and electricity problems. If the government is really concerned about local empowerment then revive the estate, not destroy the Bhagwati plateau,” he said.

In the past, during a gram sabha, the local people had rejected the proposal to give land for the project saying that they did not want the ecology of their village and their way of life to be affected by disturbing the eco-sensitive piece of land. The method should be influenced.

The issue witnessed heated debate as each component presented its arguments.