Land filling activity in progress near the alignment of the western bypass at Seraulim.
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Dumping of mud for land filling along the controversial western bypass alignment at Seraulim has raised a question if the contractor shortlisted by the PWD (National Highways) has commenced the work on the remaining part of the stretch which measures 2.75 km.
Reason: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), which had constituted a high level 10-member committee to go into the entire gamut of issues of flooding along the River Sal flood plains, is yet to give its final verdict on the construction of the remaining part of the 2.75 km stretch.
In fact, the work of land filling has left the villagers bewildered as they have been agitating for a bypass on stilts rather than the govt insisting on filling up of the flood plains with mud. The villagers wonder if the contractor can go ahead with the work when the high-level panel is yet to submit its findings to the NGT.
A visit to the site, meters way from the wholesale fish market, revealed that a good portion of the land has been filled up with mud. A couple of heavy earth moving machinery was spotted at the site, while the contractor has erected a small cabin on the land in question.
Seraulim villagers wondered how the PWD or the contractor can start the work without waiting for the NGT’s green signal to resume work on the project.
When ‘The Goan’ called up the PWD (National Highway) Executive Engineer Dattaprasad Kamat to shed light on the land filling, the senior PWD official conceded that a small portion of the area has been filled up, but hastened to add that the land is being filled up to facilitate the contractor to build sheds for the labourers.
“Work on the 2.75 km stretch of the western bypass between Seraulim and Benaulim has not commenced. The contractor has only carried out land filling on a small portion of the land at Seraulim to build sheds for the labourers”, Kamat said, asserting that work on the 2.75 km bypass will be taken up only after the NGT gives its verdict on the matter.
The PWD (National Highway) has already awarded the work order to a contractor to take up the work on the 2.75 km remaining stretch, which is estimated to cost the exchequer around Rs 140-odd crore.
Sources in the know informed that the 10-member high level committee is in the process of compiling the report on its findings in respect to the 2.75 km stretch, before the same is submitted to the NGT.
The next date of hearing on the matter will come up before the NGT in the month of November. The NGT had constituted a high-level panel after a resident of Benaulim, Royla Fernandes, knocked the doors of the Tribunal with a plea that construction of the 2.75 km bypass without stilts would spell doom for the ecology and destroy the flood plains of River Sal.
