MARGAO
Benaulim villagers on Sunday came under the banner of Bannalkarancho Ekvott to fight against the government’s plan to bulldoze with the controversial western bypass through the flood plains of river Sal and save the village from destruction.
The villagers wondered why the government gas waived off the crores of rupees of fees owed by casinos and other corporates, saying the money could have been invested in the construction of the bypass on stilts.
Former MLA Caitu Silva, former sarpanchas Royla Fernandes and Dielle Fernandes, panchayat members Xavier Fernandes, Deputy Sarpanch John Albuquerque, Glyda Rodrigues, activist Roque Fernandes came under the banner of Bannalkarancho Ekvott on Sunday and have pledged to fight till the last to oppose the bypass by filling of land.
They have appealed to the people of Benaulim to come out and unitedly fight to scrap the western bypass if the government is not willing to build the same on stilts.
In his address, former MLA Caitu said he had opposed the bypass during his tenure, which had forced the then government to stop the work. “I had even petitioned the Union Minister Nitin Gadkari how the bypass project will destroy Benaulim village if not built on stilts,” he said, adding while the work was stopped all this time, the PWD is now bracing up to start it.
“I request Chief Minister Pramod Sawant not to build the bypass and put lives of the villagers in peril,” he said.
Benaulim ex-deputy sarpanch Xavier Fernandes recalled how he and other villagers had been opposing the bypass since 2015, pointing out that the panchayat had even insisted in the Regional Plan that the bypass should be built on stilts.
Panch member Glyda Rodrigues made a fervent plea to the government to build the bypass on stilts, fearing large scale destruction if the project is executed by filling of land.
Former sarpanch Royla Fernandes lamented that the government has not acted on several petitions made by the villagers, besides the representations made by children about a year ago.
She warned that the water bodies of the village, including Voddlem Tollem will be destroyed if the bypass is not built on stilts. “We had asked the Revenue Department to prepare a Disaster Management Plan as a disaster is in the making in Benaulim. Sadly, no such report has been prepared to date,” she rued.
Royla claimed that water flow along the river Sal course from Nuvem has been disturbed after the construction of the bypass, fearing that a similar fate will befall on the Benaulim stretch.
To a question, Royla said that the villagers will consider knocking on the doors of the High Court right at the time, saying that they have been collecting documents from various departments to prove how the filling of land will affect the village as a whole.
