the goan I network
MARGAO
Supporters of Cuncolim MLA Clafacio Dias and former MLA Joaquim Alemao came face to face at the South Goa District Collectorate on Thursday at the meeting called by TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai to resolve the burning issue of Cuncolim bypass on the NH-17.
While Clafacio’s supporters insisted that they will not tolerate any attempts to bypass and sideline the Cuncolim MLA, Joaquim’s supporters retorted that they had approached the former MLA to use his good offices with the TCP Minister to resolve the bypass imbroglio after their meeting with the incumbent MLA proved futile.
Heated exchanges ensued between the supporters in the presence of the TCP Minister and the Cuncolim MLA in the Minister’s chamber of the district Collectorate, before the two groups were told to move out of the chamber. The two groups continued to spar in the corridor as they traded charges and counter charges against each other.
While Clafacio’s supporters warned that they will not keep quite if the MLA is bypassed and sidelined on the bypass issue, supporters of the former MLA claimed that they approached Joaquim only after Clafacio told them to call on Velim MLA Filipe Neri Rodrigues since he was a new MLA. Joaquim’s supporters further claimed that they have sought Joaquim’s help to work out a solution to the bypass issue, and thanked both Joaquim and the TCP Minister for taking up the issue with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for redressal. They said there’s no question of bypassing the MLA, but hastened to add that Clafacio did not act on their complaint since October, forcing them to approach Joaquim.
Clafacio, on the other hand, pointed out that he had raised the issue on the floor of the House and had called on the PWD Minister along with MLA Filipe Neri Rodrigues with the proposal to build the bypass along the Konkan railway tracks. “My supporters felt that I was being bypassed because I was not invited when the TCP Minister, Joaquim Alemao and the people called on the Chief Minister on the issue,” Clafacio said, while reiterating his support to the bypass alignment running parallel to the railway tracks, which was notified on the Regional Plan during the tenure of former MLA Joaquim Alemao.
