PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has asked the petitioners challenging the proposed NH 748 alignment through Bhoma to meet NHAI officials, temple committee members and technical experts to understand the alignment and the proposed construction of the elevated corridor.
The direction came after Advocate General Devidas Pangam submitted that the proposed alignment and construction method would not affect the temples in the area. During the hearing before the Division Bench comprising Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Amit Jamsandekar on Monday, the AG also told the court that to preserve the Bhoma lake, the NHAI had proposed a bow-string bridge suspended above it.
Taking note of the submissions and the plan placed before it, the Bench asked the petitioners’ counsel to engage with NHAI officials, accompanied by members of the temple committee and technical persons, to understand the proposal. “This shall be done within a week from today,” the court directed, posting the matter for September 30. The petitioners had argued that 3-4 temples, a lake and some century-old houses would be affected by the work.
The AG said the NHAI had placed its plan before the court, indicating that the temples would not be touched and that measures had been proposed to preserve the lake. Following the submission, the court directed that the proposal be explained in the presence of technical experts. In an earlier judgment, the High Court had dismissed a petition filed by 57 villagers challenging the Bhoma-Corlim highway widening project, holding that the project was in public interest.
The then Division Bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Nivedita Mehta had observed that, in matters concerning national highways, national interest and public interest are paramount and could not be dictated by individual objections. It had also observed that the alignment had been designed and finalised by engineers and experts, with due care taken to avoid damage to property and structures.
