Farmers block officials from inspecting airport site
May 11th, 2011 - 10:31 pm ICT by IANSPanaji, May 11 (IANS) Hundreds of farmers Wednesday blocked a team of government officials from inspecting the site of a proposed international airport near the Goa-Maharashtra border, claiming that the land was being acquired illegally by the state government.
Farmers who have bunched together under Mopa Vimantal Piditt Xetkari Samiti (MVPXS) held the officials to ransom when they were going to the Mopa Greenfield airport, which is coming up around 40 km from here.
“The officials did not have a single official document required for the process of land acquisition. We gheraoed them and then forced them to go back,” said Sandeep Kambli, a spokesperson for the MVPXS.
The officials from the forest, revenue and public works departments were on their way to the proposed airport site for demarcation of the area.
“The government is felling trees to construct the airport. The land acquisition proceedings are blatantly illegal,” Kambli said.
Nearly 80 lakh sq meters of land, which includes forested areas and agricultural land, is being acquired by the state government to construct Goa’s second international airport, in addition to the military-operated Dabolim international airport in Vasco, 35 km from here.
Activists claim that the construction of the airport is likely to affect nearly 15,000 families who are dependent on farming in that region.
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- Goa should look beyond beaches for tourism: Governor - Jan 26, 2011
- Cabinet approves new international airport for Goa - Jun 10, 2010
- Goa government dragging its feet on Mopa airport: BJP - Aug 17, 2009
- Goa Greenfield International Airport project gets clearance - Jun 10, 2010
- Another airport in Goa is the need of the hour: Indian Navy - Jan 29, 2009
- Eight injured in Goa naphta pipeline fire - Aug 20, 2011
- Deadlock over Posco land acquisition continues - Jun 25, 2011
- Punjab not to acquire land without owners' consent - Sep 06, 2010
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Tags: activists, agricultural land, demarcation, farmers, felling trees, forested areas, goa, government officials, greenfield, lakh, land acquisition, maharashtra, mopa, official document, proceedings, public works departments, ransom, spokesperson, sq meters, state government