Locals worry about Syngenta’s land sale plan

Panaji: Concerned over the proposed transfer of land at Corlim currently owned by Syngenta India limited, a gram sabha of the Corlim panchayat and the nearby villages will be held on Sunday to try and pass a resolution to ask the government to exercise its right and buy back the 7.54 lakh sq m of land. “This move, to high-handedly sell the said property has to be opposed,” social activist and lawyer Aires Rodrigues said.“If the government doesn’t act, then the move will be challenged before all the authorities and the court. But, the issue has to also be fought before the people’s court.”
As part of a global restructuring move, Syngenta, after fending off a $47 billion takeover bid from Monsanto, is now looking at sale of assets and joint ventures. As part of the process, it is keen to sell its assets as well as the land at Corlim to the Visakhapatnam-based Deccan Fine Chemicals.
Local residents, led by the sarpanch and other activists, argued that the original sale deed prevented Syngenta from selling the land, known as Santa Monica, to a third party without giving the original vendor, in this case the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman and the government, the first right to purchase the land.
“The indenture also says that the land cannot be transferred to anybody other than the original purchaser or a subsidiary,’ said deputy sarpanch Victor Pereira.
The main grouse of the locals is the health and safety risk posed by chemical companies in the vicinity as any blast or chemical leakage will affect citizens in a 20 kilometre radius.
“The said property can instead be used to build an IIT or a college or for some other much needed infrastructure,” Pereira said. Activists expressed doubts over Deccan Fine Chemical’s ability to prevent toxic or hazardous chemicals from leaking, especially since a reactor had exploded at the Visakhapatnam plant in 2014 killing two people and injuring several others.