NT Reporter
Curchorem
Villagers of Mirabag and surrounding areas unanimously decided to demand that the government formally declare the Rs 400 crore bandhara project scrapped and provide the assurance in writing within the next two days, failing which they warned of shifting the agitation to Azad Maidan, Panaji, from Monday.
Addressing the media, local Sanket Bhandari said that Thursday marked the 45th day of the agitation.
“A meeting was held on Wednesday with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar, Speaker and local MLA Ganesh Gaonkar, Minister Subhash Phal Dessai, BJP state president Damodar Naik and Vinay Tendulkar in Panaji, during which they indicated that the bandhara project would be dropped and replaced with a jackwell project,” he said.
Following the meeting, he said they discussed the proposal among ourselves. “Now we have decided that first the government should give us in writing that the bandhara project is scrapped. We want this assurance in writing on the government’s letterhead,” he said, adding that they cannot rely on
oral assurances.
Bhandari said that there are examples that show that oral assurances have no value. “In our case, on three different occasions, we were given oral assurances but these were not kept,”
he said.
President of Sangameshwar Devasthan Samiti, Sanguem, Supraj Tari said that they oppose the project as it would submerge the Sangameshwar temple and disrupt religious life. He said the alternative proposed was justified and added that the government should first provide written assurance that the bandhara is scrapped.
Social activist Pradip Kakodkar said that no government officials had visited the agitators during the 45-day protest.
