Evicted milk producer demands compensation, alternative farm

The milk producer evicted from rented land in the limits of Zabbar to make way for the SmartCity project yesterday filed a judicial protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court holding the authorities liable in damages.

Raymond Scerri and his wife Rita failed in their bid to obtain a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the authorities to prevent their eviction.

In their judicial against the director of the Land Department, the Director of Agriculture and the Minister for IT and Investment, the Scerris said they leased land from the Land Department and used it to rear goats and cows with the authority of the Director of Agriculture. This, they explained, was their livelihood.

The Land Department director had given them notice of eviction in June and August of last year on the basis that the land was required for a public purpose.

On Thursday the courts had dismissed the Scerris' request to prohibit the director of the Land Department from evicting them, and on that very same day the director had effected the eviction without in any way offering the Scerris compensation.

The Scerris insist they would like to be compensated for the loss of their livelihood.

They further objected to the manner in which they had been evicted from their farm. They added that such an eviction ought not to take place in a democratic society, and that everyone ought to be treated in the same manner.

Following the eviction, the Director of Agriculture had not provided the Scerris with an alternative site for their livestock, and this was causing the Scerris to suffer big damages.

They called upon the authorities to make good the damages they sustained and also requested them to provide them with an alternative site to continue their farming.

Lawyers Roberto Montalto and Edward Zammit Lewis acted for the Scerris.