MARGAO
Davorlim villagers are up in arms against the government after it cold shouldered their demand to reserve a portion of the land acquired for multi-utility projects, including an education hub, on the outskirts of Margao.
Even as the South Goa District Collector handed over the acquired land admeasuring 1.17 lakh square metres to the education department to set up an education hub to accommodate Margao-based schools to ease congestion in the city, Davorlim locals appear an aggrieved lot since successive governments and the administration have ignored their demand.
Former Davorlim Sarpanch Paulo Colaco told The Goan on Wednesday that the village panchayat's plea to the district administration to allot a portion of the acquired land for the construction of the Holy Cross chapel has not been met till date. He further said that the request to the administration to allot some space for waste sorting as well as for other village infrastructure have not been accepted by the district administration or by the government.
"Villagers are indeed surprised that the government wants to set up an education hub on the acquired land, which belongs to the local comunidade without looking into the infrastructural requirements of the village. If the land of our ancestors is all taken away for the education hub to accommodate Margao schools, is there any land left in the village to meet the requirements of local infrastructure?" Paulo asked.
The Congress government headed by former CM Digambar Kamat and then South Collector G P Naik had bulldozed their way with the proposal to acquire the Comunidade land despite stiff opposition from locals on grounds that the government should first address the infrastructural requirement of the villagers before relocating the city schools in the village.
