Panaji: Forty farmers and owners of agricultural land from Loutolim and Borim have moved the high court, challenging the proposed acquisition of their lands for the new Borim bridge.
They have submitted to the HC that the proposed bridge alignment threatens to displace them as the affected zone will cut across large stretches of coastal regulation zone (CRZ) areas which comprise low-lying khazans, water bodies, and mangroves.
These stretches, the petitioners said, lie on both sides of the Zuari at Loutolim and Borim villages and then pass through forest lands, agricultural lands, and steep slopes at Borim.
The petitioners said that the indigenous communities of these villages are totally dependent on the lands. They added that many survive solely by cultivating rice and other crops and by fishing in the lands proposed to be acquired. These people will lose all means of survival if the plan goes through, the petitioners said.
The lands have the highest ecological sensitivity as inviolable CRZ areas, prime agricultural lands, and forests which have sustained civilizations for tens of thousands of years, the petitioners said.
They further said that their objections were summarily disallowed by the authorities without a proper hearing. They said that the alignment was determined based on insufficient and erroneous data and without consultation with the panchayats, gram sabhas, or affected indigenous communities.