MARGAO
Nationalist Congress Party MLA Churchill Alemao and Aam Aadmi Party volunteers were locked in a verbal duel on Saturday over the delay in construction of a road underpass at the Seraulim railway crossing.
AAP volunteers from Seraulim held a peaceful protest at around 10.30 am near the railway crossing where they demanded to know whether local MLA Churchill had gone to sleep along with the “sleeping” Manohar Parrikar-led government.
An hour later, Churchill addressed the media to send a message to the AAP leadership that he wasn’t in sleep, even as he produced an order stating the government approval to draw and disburse 50 per cent of the amount for a road under bridge amounting to Rs 3.63 crore.
The Benaulim MLA took potshots at the AAP leadership, especially its South Goa Coordinator, Rodney Almeida, who hails from Seraulim. “For 40 years, this issue was not resolved by any of the MLAs. But, I managed to get the underpass project approved after becoming the MLA. I am indebted to then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who had sanctioned the project on his birthday. After pursuing with the government, I finally have the order,” he said.
Churchill said Rodney was misguiding the people. ‘These same people had worked against me in the 2017 Assembly election. But the people of Seraulim gave me the victory. They are misguiding the people when I have the order in hand,” Churchill added.
Earlier in the day, AAP leader Lumena Almeida, also took potshots at Churchill. “This issue has been pending for a long time now. The patience of the people is running out,” she said. Another AAP volunteer Benjamin Fernandes said the party cannot see the suffering and plight of the people not only from Seraulim, but the neighbouring villages as well. “We are giving three months to the government to commence work on the project or we will be forced to come on the streets,” he warned.
Solan Furtado said it is indeed sad that people had to come out to protest to highlight the indifference of the authorities. “There’s a train passing every 15 minutes. This means the crossing is closed for traffic for 15-20 minutes for most part of the day. When the land is already acquired for the project, the government should not delay its execution,” he demanded.
Vincent Fernandes demanded to know whether the project has hit a road block for want of funds and made a case for immediate construction of the underpass.
