TEAM HERALD

bureau@herald-goa.com

CANACONA: A remote part of the State is now at the centre of all attention, with authorities eyeing a huge tract of vacant land to set up various projects.

A barren land in Kulti-Poinguinim, with an area of about 30 lakh square metres overlooking the Arabian Sea could house not one, but at least four different projects.

style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: justify; ">According to sources, the Government is planning to establish an industrial estate at Kulti, in the area where the previous Government had earlier earmarked for the project.

Sources also informed that around 3 lakh sq mtrs of land at Kulti is already marked by a central agency and is under acquisition for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who are keen to establish its barracks near the shore.

The third project proposed at Kulti is the NIT, which was in eye of storm when an inspection of the Madditolop plateau in Loliem was taken up for inspection by Government.

"While the State Government already gave its nod to provide suitable land to house the NIT project in the State, a revolt by a section of Loliem people forced authorities to explore other avenues and they have reportedly recommended land at Kulti, which also meets the requirements of the NIT", a source told Herald.

Not to lag behind, the Poinguinim panchayat has decided to earmark and establish a Rehabilitation of Flood Victims project at Kulti, following the 2009 Canacona floods which had destroyed many houses and displaced many others.

Though the matter did not proceed beyond the planning phase, elders in the village are strongly pushing to mark a certain area for the rehabilitation of people affected in natural calamities.

Incidentally, panchayat sources told Herald that the entire area of Kulti, where the land belongs to Poinguinim panchayat, is marked as settlement zone in the Regional Plan 2021.Given the availability of vast tracts of vacant land and its settlement status, there were reportedly moves to develop some areas at Kulti into plots and allot it to buyers. However, there is no confirmation to this speculation.

It may be recalled that over a decade ago, the Government had earmarked certain communidade land in Loliem village to establish an industrial estate, but the matter has been lying in cold storage since then.

Along with with Loliem, another land at Kulti-Poinguinim was also being discussed in the circles for acquisition. But that has never been into serious consideration of the government, even though the vast vacant place was very much dear to the heart of present Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar.

As the erstwhile Poinguinim MLA, Tawadkar reportedly tried to impress upon the then Congress Government to take up vacant communidade land at Kulti-Poinguinim for several government projects, instead of persisting with Madditolop-Loliem, which was often embroiled in disputes with objections from locals and resistance from land encroachers.