MARGAO
Land losers from Navelim, who had parted with their land for the national highway road widening, are facing double trouble.
While these beleaguered land losers are yet to receive compensation in lieu of their land, some of the compound walls of the owners, constructed by the authorities at the time of road widening, have showed signs of cracking.
Local NGO Navelim Civic and Consumer Forum, besides social activists, have demanded a probe into the quality of work on the compound walls, fearing that these might collapse.
Navelim Civic and Consumer Forum Secretary Joseph Vaz along with activists Melvyn Pereira and Sidharth Karapurkar descended on the stretch of the widened road after locals informed them about the inferior quality of the construction. “How can the walls show signs of cracking if the construction was good and of standard quality?” questioned forum Secretary Joseph Vaz, even as he demanded a probe into the quality of the construction.
He claimed that proper engineering standards were not complied with while constructing the compound walls. “The walls are not at all safe. We have not come across pillars or extension joints. We have doubts whether the ratio of cement and sand was adhered to in the construction,” he said.
Joseph feared that local residents and children who walk alongside the walls may get hurt if the walls come crashing down and demanded their reconstruction.
Activist Melvyn Pereira demanded to know how come the pedestrian walking path is not put in place along the widened stretch despite the fact that the road widening work was taken up by the government around four years ago.
He said the authorities have not even painted the road dividers, which has resulted in at least four accidents along the stretch in recent days.
Sidharth Karapurkar pointed out that any lay man would say that the walls are of substandard quality and may collapse. The beleaguered land losers have been waging a battle since the last three years to get their promised compensation in lieu of the land, but in vain.
