Margao: The sit-in protest at Mirabag village against the proposed 50 MLD bandhara project continued into its second day on Wednesday, drawing support from political leaders as villagers remained firm in their demand to scrap the project.Deputy collector and SDM Sanguem Milind Velip held a meeting with a three-member delegation of protesting villagers and water resources department (WRD) engineers. Villagers said their repeated requests for a public presentation on the project were ignored.
“No public presentation about the project was held for the villagers, hence the villagers had no idea how the proposed project would impact the village,” explained Sanket Bhandari, who represented the protesters.The SDM subsequently directed WRD engineers to hold a public presentation at the earliest. However, villagers made their position very clear. “We won’t allow any destruction of the river for the proposed project. We will continue our protest until the project is scrapped,” Bhandari told TOI.Zilla panchayat member Mohan Gaonkar said that villagers should have been taken into confidence about the project’s impact. “Govt should either scrap the project, or have a consultation with the villagers before going ahead.Sanvordem sarpanch Chinmayee Naik said,“We were surprised that activities at the site restarted. The villagers don’t want the project. Former minister and MLA Vinay Tendulkar said he would meet the chief minister to convey villagers’ apprehensions.
