MARGAO
Benaulim villagers on Wednesday knocked on the doors of Environment & PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral to intervene and find ways to allocate funds to build the portion of the western bypass passing through the village on stilts.
A delegation of villagers led by Benaulim sarpanch Xavier Pereira called on the Minister and submitted a petition with a plea to keep the reclamation work on hold till the Hydrology report is prepared as assured by him. The villagers also requested the minister to visit the site at Benaulim along with the members of the NGT-constituted panel. They have made a case for the bypass through Benaulim on stilts for the benefit of the environment, a measure to combat floods and climate change impacts, and protection of agricultural lands and the livelihood of local farmers.
“We need sustainable development for the benefit of the future generations and under your able guidance will undoubtedly make a sustainable development proposal to save our lives, livelihood and environment,” the petition stated.
Saying the approximate differential cost of building this portion of the highway is only Rs 112 crore, the villagers pleaded that the bypass through Benaulim is constructed on stilts without service roads.
“The length of the portion of the western highway running through the catchment area is 1.55 kilometres. The highway authorities claim that there are no sufficient funds to build the western bypass on stilts in Benaulim. The approximate differential cost of building this portion of the highway is only Rs 112 crore,” the petition stated.
The petition referred to the Water Resources Department, Agriculture and the Town & Country Planning departments in their respective reports and called for the construction of the bypass on stilts.
A pointed reference was made to the July 2022 report compiled by the Water Resources department, which confirmed the department’s earlier apprehensions about the construction of the bypass on embankments. The petition drew the attention of the PWD minister to the WRD report, which was categorical in stating that the possibility of disaster to the life, livelihood and property of the local inhabitants in the future needs to be considered in going ahead with the construction of the western bypass on embankments in the said reach.
While acknowledging the steps initiated to protect the Environment and the commitment by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to construct the bypass partially on stilts from Seraulim to Mungul as per recommendation of NGT committee, they, however, pointed out that Benaulim which originally initiated the movement to have the western bypass on stilts and produced all relevant reports to the authorities stands ignored.
Panchayat members, including sarpanch Xavier Pereira, deputy sarpanch Glyda Rodrigues, and members of the gram sabha-constituted committee for the western bypass on stilts called on Cabral and apprised him of the ground reality in having the bypass on embankment.
