MARGAO
Loutolim villagers on Tuesday upped the ante against the new Borim bridge as they made a strong submission before the Land Acquisition Officer demanding dropping of the proposed acquisition of the village lands and khazan fields.
They urged the Land Acquisition Officer (AO) to carry out proper studies before reviewing all alternatives and selecting the best alignment for the proposed high level New Borim bridge along with approaches across Zuari river so that the village khazans, the indigenous communities and the environment are protected.
In the submission, the villagers said there is no cost benefit analysis done at all for the alternatives. “Loss of fisheries and rice cultivation, loss of agricultural and grazing lands, losses due to flooding, loss of land in general, loss of environmental services, fuel costs, etc has to be considered, but there is no cost comparison done. This makes the process of selection of alternative seven completely arbitrary”, the memorandum stated.
Referring to the Chief Engineer (NH, R & B), PWD’s letter to the Chief Engineer (P-6), MORTH on 04/05/2017 suggesting alternatives seven for approval since it is shortest distance for traffic on NH-17B leading to the Mormugao Port, the villagers submitted it is clear that the Chief Engineer (NH, R & B), PWD's arbitrary intervention in the decision making process, and his complete abandonment of the factors that were to be considered, is responsible for the selection of alternative seven over other alternatives.
Saying the government has completely ignored the massive destruction of critical CRZ areas (khazans), the submission stated that the inception and Feasibility Reports have no assessment of the amount of CRZ areas that are going to be affected if alternative seven is pursued.
“The entire area under acquisition in Loutulim village is within CRZ while a large part of the area in Borim village along River Zuari is also within CRZ, but there is no mention of these massive CRZ areas. If this fact was considered, alternative seven would have not been selected”, the memorandum added.
Stating that khazans are not mentioned anywhere in the reports or correspondence of the Consultants/PWD, the memorandum stated that no study has been carried out of the impact of the destruction of the khazans, which includes highly productive and fish breeding areas in the 'kholyo' (water bodies in the khazans),traditional organic rice cultivation in the khazan fields etc.
“There is no consideration of the rich natural fisheries of the khazans. Highly productive fisheries and fish breeding areas of not just khazans of Vatlyan and Carbot, but also all of the neighbouring khazans of Loutulim village and River Zuari, will be destroyed, but this is not even considered”, the memorandum stated.
Asserting that the consultant has not prepared any DPR or Final Report as yet, the memorandum further stated that the land acquisition proceedings could not have been commenced without first preparing the DPR, which is required to include detailed information that is necessary for the affected people to understand the impact on them and their environment.
On flooding impact, the villagers claimed that there have been no studies of flooding that will take place due to the filling of khazan lands that retain flood waters.
“The arms of the proposed highway in Loutulim village block the massive flood waters from two hill slopes that are drained through the valley of AngddiTollem and Tollea Bandh fields. Any increase in flood levels will impact the entire khazan areas of Loutulim village. Bandhs are most susceptible to being washed out due to floods. Rice crops will be lost due to floods, forcing other farmers also to give up cultivation”, the memorandum added.
