VASCO
Vasco BJP MLA Krishna (Daji) Salkar on Friday assured the people that no house would be damaged during the ongoing railway double tracking work at Uddi in Belabai area of Vasco.
Speaking to reporters after a joint inspection with Railways and PWD officials along with Dy Collector Dattaraj Gauns Desai, ward councillor Girish Borker and local residents, Salkar said the people would also get a widened internal road and footpath with gutters in return from the Railways.
“We had a meeting with railway authorities because some residents feared that their houses would be demolished if the railway expansion is carried out since the railway property is right till their doorsteps,” said Salkar.
“We then decided to have a win-win situation for everyone. We have told the Railways not to go extremely close to houses as they could get damaged due to piling works and asked them to leave a buffer gap of one metre from every house in the area."
"We have already taken precautionary measures to safeguard houses in Uddi. We have also asked for a widened internal road for smooth traffic flow followed by a cross drain to prevent flooding in low-lying areas and finally, a footpath for safety of pedestrians. The Railways have agreed to this and as a result, while houses will be saved, we will get a widened road, a footpath and a cross drain. In return, the Railways will get to do their expansion work," said Salkar.
FLOODING: Salkar said various initiatives will be taken to save Vasco from flooding during monsoons.
"We have had a big mess in the last 10 years and we are taking steps to find solutions. This place is a low-lying catchment area and had fields and a pond on either side of the road near Tanya Hotel.
Rainwater in the city would come into this pond and there was no flooding earlier. But we have seen landfilling in the pond and fields and this has buried Vasco's catchment area totally," said Salkar.
"This has led to flooding along Swatantra Path which we have seen last year. Under a private sponsorship, we have taken up new cross drains for rainwater to flow and to prevent flooding. The new cross drains in this Udi area will be a part of our plan to prevent flooding," said Salkar.
