News Articles
SEZ Virodhi Manch fears doom if SEZs allowed
BY HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, DEC 13 â Around 18.7 lakh sq mts. That the huge land allotted to five promoters under the guise of the controversial SEZs at the Verna Industrial Estate which is being opposed tooth and nail by the SEZ Virodhi Manch.
Anti-SEZ activists have contended that the five promoters if allowed to set shop in Phase IV of the Verna Industrial Estate would put pressure on the crumbling infrastructure such as power, water and would invite hordes of migrants to work in these factories, diluting fast eroding Goan identity.
The manpower requirement in these five units is roughly put at over a lakh of workers, with locals raising apprehensions that the manpower would be finally imported from across the state borders.
Whatâs more, the Manch says these units, if fully operational, would require lakhs of litres of water every day.
And, with the government utterly failing to make available water supply to the existing industries at Verna, locals fear that the new companies â like the existing units â would resort to indiscriminate sinking of bore well to tap underground water supply.
In fact, Manch activists claims that the developers of SEZ at Verna have already sucking the ground water through bore well, apprehending that this would further deplete the ground water in the area.
On the power front too, a study carried out by the Manch revealed that one of the SEZ units would require a whopping 60 MVA of power.
Manch activists says its distressing that the callous government does not feel any compunction about handing over large tracts of Goan land to SEZs, which are in fact autonomous islands âa state within a stateâ.
Says an activist: âSEZ is a life changing policy for Goans, affecting their demography, infrastructure and even identityâ.
