Digital Goa, November 25 – Reacting strongly to reports that the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has recommended declaring parts of Goa as a tiger reserve, Sanguem MLA and Minister Subhash Phal Desai said he will “not allow even a single family to be shifted.” Phal Desai said the CEC had earlier acknowledged villagers’ concerns adding, “If they have still recommended including our villages, it is very bad,” he said, adding that the settlements are 800 years old and have “never seen a tiger.” He vowed to legally and politically resist any move to relocate families. “Let them put me behind bars. I will stand with my people,” he said. “CEC is not God. If they have come and reported wrong things, we will have to fight against it,” he asserted. “Even if five houses have to be shifted, I will fight for them,” he asserted.
