PANJIM: At a time when the government is promising to enact a policy to compensate people who lose land to government projects, farmers from Merces and neighbouring areas have become victims of the unsympathetic attitude of the government over compensation for land lost towards the Ribandar bypass via Kadamba plateau connecting Panjim to Old Goa on National Highway 4A.

Farmers from Merces, Roque Fernandes, Mario Fernandes and many others question whether Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar~during whose previous tenure the bypass was proposed and constructed~will help land losers or forsake them as they face hard times as the remaining parts of the field have become uncultivable.