Digital Goa, Jan 15 – A large number of Chimbel villagers gathered in Panaji on Thursday to participate in a morcha on the assembly in support of their demand to scrap the proposed Unity Mall project. The villagers had given the government half an hour to make an announcement in the Assembly regarding the scrapping of the project. After police informed them that no such assurance was given and the CM had called a four-member delegation for discussions, the protesters rejected the proposal and decided to hold a sit-in protest on the road. They insisted on a clear assurance from the government that the project would be scrapped from its current location. The villagers also demanded that a scientific report be prepared by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) to determine the buffer zone and zone of influence of the Toyyar lake wetland. They alleged that the government was disregarding the 85,000 square metre zone of influence and had earmarked only 1.75 lakh square metres as wetland. The protesters demanded that the entire 2.6 lakh square metre area be re-notified as wetland.
Jammers allegedly deployed to prevent transmission of protest videos live by the media also irked the protestors. Media also confronted DIG Varsha Sharma over the issue. The matter was also raised in the assembly following which connectivity was restored.
