CANACONA: Notwithstanding heavy rains, over 200 villagers of Loliem-Polem village panchayat under the banner of Loliem Citizens Committee staged a rally from Loliem to Poinguinnim in protest against the proposed IIT campus atop the Bhagwati plateau, Loliem. The villagers also resolved to intensify their protest.
Earlier, the villagers gathered at the panchayat hall to attend the extraordinary gram sabha convened to discuss the proposal but were taken aback as the meeting was not held.
Aggrieved villagers then staged a rally from Poinguinnim to Loliem to acquaint the villagers about the project and its consequences amidst raising of slogans in protest.
Villagers rued that they were not even allowed to discuss an issue that “would change their lives forever”. A villager claimed that the gram sabha resolutions are subject to the scrutiny of the director of Panchayats and denial to citizens their constitutional right of participatory deliberations was unnecessary.
Another villager questioned if democracy still persists in Goa or whether the state is under a foreign rule. Another villager said, “East India Company would be better than these agents of foreign corporations who are hell-bent on destroying Goa at any cost.”
Villagers were also critical about the director of panchayats, who they said, was trying to suppress and degrade the institutions it is employed to serve.