Mirabag residents end stir after CM says bandhara project nixed

Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant met the villagers of Mirabag on Monday, assuring them that he would formally mark a note cancelling the Mirabag bandhara, a crucial water storage project. Following Sawant’s assurance, the villagers, who were protesting for 49 days, gave up their agitation.

“I had a meeting with them where I told them that we are not building this bandhara. I have told them that the project has been cancelled and that I will write a remark on the file saying this, and close it,” said Sawant.

Sawant added that the construction at Mirabag has been stopped and heavy machinery removed from the site.

The villagers said they agreed to withdraw their protest after Sawant assured them that the entire irrigation project will be scrapped, and that the two deep pits excavated by the water resources department (WRD) will be filled up, and that Rs 4.4 crore would be spent to tar and resurface the road before the monsoon. The villagers also said that Sawant has assured them that the police cases filed against four of the villagers who protested in the assembly would be withdrawn.

“As the chief minister, I am taking the responsibility,” said Sawant.

“When the chief minister says something in public, there is value attached to it. A chief minister cannot say something and then go back on his word.”

“A message has gone out today that when people come together, when Goa comes together, we can do anything,” said Sanket Bhandari, one of the villagers who participated in the protest in the assembly.

Earlier, residents of Mirabag had threatened to intensify their agitation by marching to Azad Maidan in Panaji. To thwart the protest, govt invoked Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (BNS) Act to prohibit public gatherings. Incidentally, in 2017, the North Goa collector issued a notification designating Azad Maidan specifically for protests.

Villagers described the bandhara as a ‘narkasur’ that had to be burnt.

As a precautionary measure, Goa police deployed personnel at Mirabag, at Sanvordem and at Azad Maidan. Though Sawant had assured the villagers that the project had been shelved, the protesters wanted a written assurance from govt. The protesters said that govt betrayed them on three earlier occasions.

“If the CM says that the project is scrapped, then what is the problem in issuing a notification saying that the project has been scrapped? Instead, attempts are being made to suppress our democratic voice through prohibitory orders and Section 163, which are unacceptable,” said Bhandari.

GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai had described the imposition of Section 163 as evidence that the North Goa collector is “acting like a political stooge”, which is unacceptable.