MARGAO
Villagers of Benaulim, Mungul and Seraulim on Friday made a fervent plea to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to save these villages from inundation during the monsoons by constructing the balance 2.75-km stretch of the bypass on stilts.
The villagers also demanded to know why Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao did not get the bypass approved on stilts during his stint as the PWD Minister between 2007 and 2012.
Braving heavy showers, the petitioner before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Royla Fernandes, Xavier Fernandes, Rodney Almeida, Adv Seoula Vas, Lumena Almeida, Gaundencio Luis, Joaquim D’Souza, Milagres Fernandes and others assembled at the Seraulim point of the western bypass near the wholesale fish market to protest against the filling of land carried out by the contractor engaged by the PWD, National Highways.
Royla wondered how the contractor and the national highway authority could resume work on the balance 2.75-km stretch when the high-level committee of experts appointed by the National Green Tribunal is yet to submit its report. “It is shocking that the filling on the bypass alignment has started when the matter is coming up for hearing before the NGT on November 11,” she said.
She added that the activity has started when the high-level committee is yet to put in place an action plan as recommended by the NGT to save the flood plains of river Sal. “The PWD engineer’s claim that the land is being filled up to set up a base camp for the labourers is an eyewash. They are trying to gauge the reaction of the public on the resumption of the work sans stilts,” she said.
Questioning the recent statement made by the Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao that work on the balance stretch will not resume before elections, Royla said the people of Benaulim, Mungul and Seraulim are not waiting for the elections to come, demanding that the government should redraw the drawing and rework the plans of the bypass alignment.
She demanded to know why Churchill during his stint as PWD Minister did not get the bypass on stilts, adding that “when Churchill claims he had built bridges during his tenure as PWD Minister, he should have also got the bypass designed on stilts”.
A resident of Seraulim Rodney Almeida pointed out that the villagers had been demanding construction of the bypass on stilts since 2007 when the Regional Plan was being discussed by the villagers. “Right from 2007, we have been demanding the bypass on stilts. The Seraulim panchayat had passed so many resolutions since 2007, but in vain. When we confront the PWD officials, they say they have no funds to build the bypass on stilts. This is a critical issue and the government should rise to the occasion and concede to the demand by constructing the bypass on stilts, he said.
Milagres Fernandes said the people of Madel and Mungul have no objection to the western bypass, but hastened to add that the government should build the bypass on stilts instead of filling land. “Not only Madel, Mungul, Seraulim and Benaulim, but even the Old market area will be inundated during monsoons,” he said.
Seoula Vas said the government should respect the sentiments of the people and build the bypass on stilts and avert an ecological disaster.
Joaquim D’Souza said the inundation of the fields has forced many farmers to give up cultivation, fearing that construction of the bypass without stilts will only submerge large tracts of farming land in the village.
