THE GOAN NETWORK
CANACONA
The 480-metre long bridge and 100-metre long mud-filled road at Maxem creek are not only illegal but do not have the mandatory environmental clearances and are built without following approved specifications, say environmentalists from Canacona.
The environmentalists whose petition is being heard in Bombay High Court at Goa over the alleged illegal mud-filling of the river basin of Maxem creek to construct the bridge and 100-m long approach road also allege that the bridge has been constructed at half the height as originally planned, and that the mud initially dumped in Maxem river has not been excavated yet.
"The PWD has not obtained Environment Clearances Certificates (ECC) to construct the bridge and fill mud in Maxem Creek," they alleged, adding, "Besides, PWD has also gravely flouted technical specifications while constructing the bridge."
According to environmentalist Dennis Fernandes, when the bridge over Maxem creek was planned, it was designed to have a height of 10 metres. "The constructed bride is at just half the height of 5 metres. Also, the length of the bridge has been shortened to only 480 metres whereas in reality the Maxem creek has a distance of about 580 metres," he said.
"The Caption of Ports approved 50 metre spans of Maxem bridge have also not been followed as the pillars are just 33 metres apart," Fernandes alleged.
"While we represented facts to the court, which are proven and supported by concerned authorities, PWD (NHAI), is trying to misrepresent the facts, which has now been exposed. Today's collapse has also justified our concerns,'' he said, adding that the PWD had in their affidavit stated that the mud from the river has been removed, which is not true.
DattaPrasad (Manoj) Prabhugaonkar, another activist said, "We are approaching the court to obtain a stay order on any move by the PWD to repair Sunday's wall collapse, as our plea is already pending in the court that the mud filling for this road construction is illegal and dangerous and should be removed. Instead, a bridge should constructed in its place."
He added, "There is a necessity to extend the Maxem bridge by another 2 spans or at least 75 metres and remove all the mud filled in the Creek. We are also looking out for a marine scientist who can throw more light on our environmental concerns."
