Photo caption.
Navelim villagers question local MLA and Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado on the execution of the Margao western bypass at Sinquetim. Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Intensifying its agitation against the Margao western bypass passing through fields, Navelim villagers again took to the streets on Tuesday, demanding that the government should either build the bypass on stilts or scrap the project.
They were joined by people from Canacona and Agassaim, affected by the government’s road works, even as Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado called on the agitators and assured to call a joint meeting with the villagers, PWD officials and the local panchayats of Navelim and Telaulim.
Aam Aadmi Party Navelim candidate, Sidharth Karapurkar, NCP leader George Barretto and others told the local MLA that it is high time the government and the contractor holds discussions with the agitating public to resolve the problem. They have also disclosed plans to call a gram sabha meeting of the village panchayats of Navelim and Telaulim, to discuss the issue and adopt an united stand on the controversial bypass.
When the Fisheries Minister told the agitating people that the land acquisition was initiated and completed much before he became their MLA, the villagers demanded that former Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro should also be called for the joint meeting and address the concerns of the villagers.
Incidentally, when Avertano told the people that he had been assured by the government that a flyover will be constructed along the Sinquetim-Salpem lake stretch, villagers questioned him over the exact purpose behind the land filling activity in the low lying fields. “If there’s a flyover coming along the stretch, we fail to understand why the low lying fields continue to be filled by the contractor," Sidharth and George pointed out, while demanding that the minister take up the grievances of the villagers with the government and the concerned authorities.
