Opposition stumps Azgaonkar
BY A GT REPORTER
PANJIM: Sports Minister Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar found himself completely cornered over the Sports City project in his home constituency at Dhargal. A vociferous opposition BJP was on its feet claiming that the project is proposed to be erected on fertile land comprising of fields and rich forest wealth. The Sports City, scheduled to come up on land admeasuring 13.5 lakh square metres at Dhargal, involves the destruction of not less than 10,000 timber giving and fruit bearing trees, informed Mandrem MLA Laxmikant Parsekar while raising a supplementary to the Starred Question raised by Siolim MLA Dayanand Mandrekar.
Intervening in the debate, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said the Sports City at Dhargal was originally planned to come up on land admeasuring 23 lakh square metres. “Some 10 lakh square metres of land was deleted from the acquisition proceedings after delegations of some farmers from these areas met me. Later, in a meeting with the Sports Minister, it was decided that some agricultural land should also be deleted from the acquisition,” Kamat informed the House.
Sports Minister Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar was however firm on his contention that the acquisition of land in Dhargal would not involve cutting down of a large number of trees.
Initially, Mandrekar, who raised the issue through a Starred Question, demanded to know as to when the land for the Sports City was acquired, the consultant’s report and its date of submission to the government. On the other hand, Parsekar quoted survey numbers of land to show the number of timber giving and fruit bearing trees facing the axe due to the aforesaid project.
“Not less than 10000 trees, fields yielding 400 to 500 quintals of paddy are facing the axe due to this project. If there is an alternate site which is a barren land, than it has to be considered on priority,” quipped Parsekar.
Opposition leader Manohar Parrikar wanted the Sports Minister to come clear on the alleged involvement or otherwise of the personal interest of a top official from the Directorate of Sports.
“Around 4 lakh square metres of land in this area belong to him. When the government notified 13 lakh square metres in Neura for the Sports City and ultimately finalised 8 lakh square metres before it was finally dropped, why does the government require 13 lakh square metres of land at Dhargal,” questioned Parrikar.
Further, quoting from the written reply, Parrikar pointed out that the Sports City involves the construction of multiplexes, etc among the other facilities planned in the Sports City. “Some 14 activities out of the 24 mentioned in the proposal are commercial activities,” felt Parrikar.
The BJP contended that the Sports Minister’s reply debunking reports about the large scale cutting of trees in case the project takes shape cannot be taken at the face value as he was unable to cite details from the consultant’s report.
In reply, the Sports Minister claimed that the consultant was appointed on 24 November 2008 who later submitted the project report.
“Some two to four sites were intially zeroed upon after which the consultant selected the present site at Dhargal. We then decided to go ahead with the project,” Azgaonkar said in his reply.
The opposition was on its feet -- with Parrikar and Parsekar -- questioning as to whether the Sports City was a commercial activity. The discussion, which consumed a lot of time, was later brought to an end by Speaker Pratapsing Rane when he asked the members to raise this matter during demands while advising both sides of the House to conduct a healthy debate in the interest of the state.
