The demands from all and sundry for Goan land is never ending. Here we go again...The Indian Navy now wants their pound of flesh (or more) in Mopa for a naval enclave!!! Could someone please expalin what exactly this "naval enclave" entails? Is it to host another Navy Ball now in Mopa?
Well, Well! Everyone is jumping on to the bandwagon to get their share of the spoils. Our Goan Politicians, the builders, the Hotel nexus all have acquired land in the vicinity and are waiting like vultures to swoop down and feast on the area. You can already see the gleam in everyones eyes as they lie waiting, salivating and drooling for getting hold of more Goan land and the spoils. I'm sure the Russians and others too will now be waiting in line for their turn to claim they are entitled to Mopa land. After all they could claim like the Navy that they too are contributing to Goa's welfare by bringing in more Russians who will use this proposed airport? T Please note "An assurance has already been given in the recently-concluded assembly session that the government would complete the acquisition of the maximum amount of land by March 31, 2010." You can rest assured that they will indeed go all out to acquire the maximum amount of land even more than what is required. >From an earlier posting below on Goanet our Goan villagers stand to loose 90 lakh sq metres of land to this project!!! Does anyone know what is the real area of Goan land that is sought to be acquired in the guise of building this new airport? And for whom? Goans need some answers to these questions? This article below is from the Times of India on the Navy's demand for land in Mopa. ***************************************************************************** Navy seeks enclave at Mopa airport PANAJI: As a quid pro quo for allowing a civilian enclave at Dabolim airport, the Navy has asked for land at the proposed Mopa airport to set up a naval enclave. However, the seven-member Mopa airport steering committee chaired by chief secretary Sanjay Srivastava has not committed itself on the issue. Sources said the committee will call a representative of the Navy as a special invitee to its next meeting, which is yet to be scheduled. Sources in the committee confirmed the Navy’s request made at a meeting with the joint secretary of civil aviation, who is also a member of the committee, in New Delhi in October last year. The request was brought to the notice of the committee during its first meeting in Goa on December 11, 2009. The committee also comprises the state finance secretary, chairman of the Airports Authority of India and Nasser Munji, chairman of the Development Credit Bank of India. In its first meeting on December 11, the committee had discussed the appointment of consultants to prepare the documents for floating global tenders for the airport, land acquisition for which is under process. An assurance has already been given in the recently-concluded assembly session that the government would complete the acquisition of the maximum amount of land by March 31, 2010. ********************************************************************************* On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 10:22 AM, Arwin Mesquita <arwinmesqu...@gmail.com> wrote: Dear Goans, Please see below links for photos and below Press Note on the Proposed Mopa Airport. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cs2hRaUrNVF_IK63boYOZg?feat=directlink http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CpeoS8A13FHHZKfb7Hm3Ww?feat=directlink http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/45C412EN9efXDSgWueUdWA?feat=directlink http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/v-1M41dMD4m4Jlp-OQx5GQ?feat=directlink http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bYlVSxI3LjqfMjvoT4eElg?feat=directlink http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ti0VxT8zOFb0Wj2CNbj_4w?feat=directlink http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/mlpQWZVQDUqxVnWg0wT9Tg?feat=directlink We need to strongly question and debate the same; is it really required for Goa/Goans or is it really required to satisfy the greed of Politicians who besises other vested interests; have made huge investments today in the area with the hope of reaping huge illegitimate profits should the airport come up?? Arwin ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Siddarth Karapurkar Date: 2010/1/7 Subject: Fwd: mopa vimantall+ photos of mopa To: arwinmesquita hi arwin, pl find photos of mopa villages which will be destroyed if airport is finalised. regards ------------------------------------------- MOPA VIMANTALL PIDITT XETKARI SAMITI H. No 236, SHIMECHEA ADVAN - VARKHAND PEDNEM GOA PRESS NOTE REF NO . pn 011 Date : 29/08/2009 This is apropos the press note published on the 26th august in local daily lokmat issued by one mr Rupesh Parab claiming to be a member of so called “xetkari samiti “ of Mopa Pednem stating that the mopa villagers who will be affected are in support of the proposed airport. We like to inform that we strongly oppose the land acquisition as we tend to loose our livelihood, mopa village is losing approximately 11 lakh sqmts out of the 90 lakh odd sqmts to be acquired for the proposed airport and the affected people from Karmalli vada & pednekar vada of mopa village , who are the main losers, are totally against the acquisition. Other villages losing land are Varkhand, cansarvanem, Chandel, Ugvem, Amerem and poraskadem which is not mentioned in his press note. Mr Parab also mentioned which no other true genuine farmer would say that the farmers do not mind losing agricultural land for jobs which will be created at the proposed airport. We would also like to state that more than 90lakh sqmts earmarked for acquisition for the Mopa Airport is based on statements made in government report & published in local newspaper claiming that there is absolutely no environmental, social or economic impact. The report also suggests that there are no permanent settlements and people will not be affected by the acquisition. On the slopes around the majestic plateaus which rise to a height of 170mts above sea level, our industrious villages have planted over the years large cashew plantations in amongst the lush green natural forest. Conservative estimate of the number of cashew trees will be around 40 lakhs which is responsible for producing cashew kernels and allied produce of the tree to a value of more than 100 crore annually. This is the main sustenance and livelihood of around 15000 people living in these and other neighboring villages. There are also tens of thousands of betel nut trees, jackfruit, mango and coconut trees which the villagers subsist upon. The people of this area have judiciously used the land for growing fruit bearing trees in mixed cultivation with minimum interference with natural forest comprising of innumerable trees of various species having economic and environmental values that cannot be estimated. There are hundreds of permanent houses in settlements which are more than 250 years old which will be demolished once acquisition takes place. However government reports as quoted by the newspaper states that there are no permanent houses within the acquisition area. It is difficult to understand that hundreds of houses having electricity, water, house numbers served by schools and community centers, also large irrigation projects, potable water projects and other government amenities supplied by the government are missed out while deciding the feasibility of the site for the proposed airport. There is also a large population in and around the whole area which depend on fresh water springs and as these mountains retain water as natural water reservoirs all the wells in all nearby villages and even in maharashtra will be affected. Just imagine if this 90 lakhs sqmts of land is acquired for the Airport project ,all people of this region will be forced to become refugees in their own land as their livelihoods will be confiscated and no income to feed their families, If land is acquired than we will loose lakhs of fruit bearing trees which will help escalate the food price rise, also cutting down of crores and crores of natural forest trees will definitely aggravate the global warming. The ministry of environment & forests , Govt of India in their submission to the united nations framework convention on climate change has said that “Eradicating poverty is the first and overriding priority “, but in this case 15000 people will be forced into poverty directly and lakhs of others will get affected indirectly. The ministry also acknowledges and recognizes the need to increase forest cover but cutting down crores and crores of trees in mopa area will affect everybody. Thanking You, Sandip Kambli ( secretary )