St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar decided to end his hunger strike late Thursday night after state govt handed over an order issued by the town and country planning department stating that provisional and final land conversions under Section 39A of the TCP Act in St Andre constituency were suspended with immediate effect.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant assured me that the criminal cases filed against the protesters, particularly the women of Palem-Siridao, will be closed and not taken forward, the MLA said.
While savouring the victory, Borkar cautioned that the battle may have been won, but the war against Section 39A of the TCP Act is far from over.
“I am ending my hunger strike today, but if the need arises after the assembly session, I will not hesitate to restart my hunger strike,” said Borkar. “We need to remain united till then. Our fight will grow larger. I ask all the MLAs, no matter which party they belong to, to come together to get 39A scrapped. And if 39A does not get scrapped through the state assembly, we will take the fight out of the assembly and have a bigger agitation.”
The St Andre MLA said that Goa assembly speaker Ganesh Gaonkar assured him that the issue of rampant land conversion through Section 39A will be taken up in the assembly.
“Our demand is that 39A should be scrapped, and I spoke to the chief minister and he said that while he cannot directly do that, he will allow a discussion on 39A. The Speaker also said that he will grant a special discussion on section 39A in the assembly. This 39A law has seen criticism not just from the opposition but also from the ruling benches. Everyone knows that this section has to be scrapped, and the chief minister assured me that an appropriate decision will be taken. But what this appropriate action is depends on the govt because they are in majority,” said Borkar.
He also criticised govt for filing FIRs against tribal women and old women. “The women of Palem-Siridao and the residents stood united and supported our protest. It hurts that govt filed complaints against these poor women who supported us in this protest and who depend on daily wages. We told the collector that, though we know that the cases will be thrown out, we want govt to withdraw the cases; otherwise, we will not move from here. The women will have to appear in court every time and hire advocates, and this is nothing but harassment,” said the MLA.
Earlier in the day, North Goa collector Ankit Yadav urged Borkar to give up his hunger strike and offered a letter from the chief town planner Vertika Dagur, which stated that all approvals for change of zone in Palem-Siridao were suspended. However, Borkar declined the offer and asked govt to clarify the meaning of the suspension of the approvals. Yadav subsequently returned to Azad Maidan with the same order on the TCP department’s letterhead.
Borkar then reached out to Goa Foundation’s directors — Norma and Claude Alvares — for legal opinion.
“When he was at a desperate end, he decided on satyagraha. If 39A continues, it can destroy the whole of Goa. It is changing the face of Goa and making a mockery of the town planning Act. The very suspension of the approvals is an acknowledgement that 39A is not correct. The fight will continue in the assembly, which is the correct place where the MLAs need to show how Goan they are,” said Norma Alvares.
