South Goa MP Viriato Fernandes displays a copy of the reply to him by Union Road and Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on the new Borim bridge. Captured by : Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
South Goa MP Captain Viriato Fernandes has said the government is rushing with the land acquisition for the construction of the new Borim bridge in order to help the corporates transport coal from Mormugao Port.
The MP displayed before the media a letter written by Union Road and Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, wherein the latter promised to look into the grievances of the farmers to stop the acquisition of their fields in eco-sensitive zones.
He questioned the Goa government for handing over the eco-sensitive areas to the Centre to build the Borim bridge, adding that the whole objective of the bridge is to transport coal from Mormugao by the corporates. “We also want a bridge over the River Zuari at Borim. But we don’t want the high-level bridge, which is primarily designed and conceived for the transportation of coal,” he said, adding that the people of Goa will jointly fight the ill-conceived projects.
Meanwhile, the MP said the people of Goa will not be cowed down by the case filed by Sunburn against the elected representatives, media organisations, and social media.
Viriato reminded that they are in politics and social media in order to save Goa and to preserve the culture of the state. “We will fight these people legally as we have full faith in the judiciary. And we will all fight the battle socially and politically to foil plans to destroy Goa. We don’t want festivals in Goa that have been driven out from Rishikesh and Pune. We want to save our Goa, its culture, and the people,” he warned.
