MARGAO
After the PWD dumped trucks loads of mud to raise an earthen embankment, brushing aside protests by the beleaguered farmers and villagers, work on the controversial Benaulim stretch of the western bypass is expected to stop with monsoons finally arriving in the State.
Even as PWD officials insisted that the work on the filling of land would resume after the monsoons, residents pin hopes on nature to open the eyes of the government and the PWD authorities to see reason and put the bypass on stilts along the Benaulim stretch.
Locals pointed out that the perennial flooding of the low-lying flood plains of river Sal, including the Tolleaband water body, would come as an eye-opener for the PWD authorities to abandon filling of land and build the bypass on stilts.
A visit to low-lying Tolleaband, which acts as a water catchment area during the rains, where the PWD has dumped thousands of tonnes of mud to raise an earthen embankment right across the water body to pave way for the four-lane western bypass, showed that filling of land has stopped for a moment.
When The Goan called up Executive Engineer, PWD-NH Dattaprasad Kamat to shed light on the stoppage of work by the contractor, he said the work will be stopped because of the monsoons, further saying work would resume after the rains.
"There’s no change in the government decision on the western bypass. Only the 980 metre stretch, from Seraulim to Mungul railway bridge, recommended by the 10-member NGT appointed expert panel and approved by the government and the High Court, will be built on stilts,” asserted Kamat.
Benaulim villager and petitioner in the National Green Tribunal, Royla Fernandes, however, contended that the expert panel did not take into account the factors that have contributed to the large-scale inundation of the low-lying flood plains of river Sal and water catchment areas, including the Tolleaband water body.
“Nature would prove the government and the PWD authorities wrong again once the skies open and there’s a downpour. We only hope that PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral, in particular, and the government, in general, take note of the situation in Benaulim during the monsoons,” she said.
Royla added: “We cannot play around with nature. The PWD has dumped tonnes of mud right through the Tolleaband water body, which acts as a water catchment area. Just imagine where the displaced water would flow in the rains. The PWD has also buried large tracts of low lying fields between Tolleaband and Mungul bridge, which also acted as water catchment area during the rains.”
Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas had demanded the bypass on stilts on the plea that the area in question is not only prone to flooding and inundation during the monsoons, but that the authorities cannot ignore the risk of an unprecedented flood in the future.
Incidentally, a study conducted by the Water Resources Department in 2019 recommended the construction of the Benaulim stretch of the bypass on stilts since the road construction would include the filling of low-lying areas. The WRD had suggested that the possibilities of minimising the filling area need to be worked out by the PWD by proposing the road on stilt as the alternate case by considering the long-term damage to the agricultural land and biodiversity.
The WRD report had further observed that there’s scope for damaging the banks/bunds/drains connecting the river Sal during the construction stage since the proposed bypass is very close to river Sal.
After a spate of mishaps, flyover at
bypass junction in Navelim gets nod
MARGAO
Finally, after a spate of accidents, the National Highway 66 has agreed to build a flyover at the western bypass junction in Navelim.
The accident-prone traffic junction, which has played host to a series of accidents since the bypass was commissioned along the Navelim-Benaulim stretch, will now have a flyover or a road over bridge.
Executive Engineer NH Dattaprasad Kamat told The Goan that PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral has instructed the officials to prepare estimates for a flyover or road over bridge at the traffic junction. “The PWD officials are on the job to prepare the estimates, which will be forwarded later to the Centre for sanction,” Kamat said.
He added: "After PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral had inspected the traffic junction at Navelim, he instructed the officials to prepare estimates for the flyover at the Navelim junction of the western bypass.”
Newly-elected Navelim MLA Ulhas Tuenkar, besides the local panchayats of Navelim and Telaulim, strongly demanded a flyover at the bypass junction in view of the accidents that have taken place at the spot since the commissioning of the Navelim-Benaulim stretch.
The traffic signals which have been installed at the junction, sources say have provided only partial relief. Motorists and road users, however, have been insisting on a flyover at the junction since the traffic signals while regulating the traffic, only bring all national highway traffic to a halt, disrupting the free vehicular movement on the busy national highway.
