Agitated locals say they are fed up, warn will stop highway work
MAPUSA
Maintaining that the annual flooding taking place in Guirim was on account of the choked River Tar, Saligao MLA Jayesh Salgaonkar along with the farmers of Guirim warned the contractor of MVR Infra Pvt Ltd to immediately clear the debris under the culvert of River Tar or be ready to face the music from the agitated locals.
“We are fed up with the oral assurances given by the contractor engaged in constructing the NH66. It’s time for action now. Either you start removing the debris immediately or we will stop the work of constructing the culvert,” Salgaonkar warned.
The Saligao MLA along with the farmers had assembled near the ongoing work on the culvert on River Tar on Sunday morning.
The project manager of the NH66 (Patradevi to Bambolim stretch) Krishna Chowdhary and the liaison officer for MVR Infra Pvt Ltd, G R Kale, were also present at the site.
Continuing, Salgaonkar said four MLAs of Bardez who are directly or indirectly affected by the flow of River Tar have been demanding the cleaning of River Tar for various reasons.
“Along with me, Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte, Aldona MLA Glenn Ticlo, Mapusa MLA Joshua D’Souza have time and again raised the issue on the need to de-silt and clean the River Tar. Most of the monsoon water flows down in this river and therefore the steady flow of the river is of utmost importance,” he said.
He further said that apart from the MLAs, the councillors of Mapusa Municipal Council had also appealed to the contractor to remove the debris from under the culvert.
He said recently during his inspection of the flooded areas in Guirim, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had directed various departments to submit plans to de-silt the River Tar in order to avoid future inundation of the village.
“During the assembly session I have asked for a special package to tackle the floods in Guirim which includes cleaning of River Tar,” Salgaonkar said.
Earlier, North Goa District Congress Committee Vice President, Bolanath Gadi, slammed the authorities for failing to keep their word in clearing the debris below the culvert.
“We have been raising this issue time and again. Every time we protest the contractor gives an assurance but fails to keep his commitment. This time if they fail to keep their word we will come here and along with the locals stop the work,” Gadi said.
The project manager for NH66, Krishna Chowdhary and the liaison officer for MVR Infra Pvt Ltd, G R Kale, assured the MLA and the farmers that the debris in the river will be removed before the concrete slab is placed on the culvert.
