MARGAO
Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari’s “dekhenge” remark made to a delegation of Benaulikars when they called on him in support of their demand for the construction of the western bypass on stilts had raised fresh hopes that the government may finally pay heed to their long-pending demand and save the village from inundation during monsoons.
Gadkari’s promise, however, have found no mention in Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s budget speech made in the House on Wednesday when he placed the budgetary estimates for the 2023-24 financial year.
In fact, while the Chief Minister announced hundreds of crores worth road network, including the highways in his budget speech, plea to build the western bypass passing through Benaulim village, found no mention in the CM’s speech.
Benaulim villager and petitioner before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Royla Fernandes said it is indeed disappointing that the Chief Minister made no provision in his budget estimates to build the western bypass passing through Benaulim on stilts.
“It’s really disappointing that the government has failed to understand why the Benaulim villagers are demanding the bypass on stilts passing through the village. We can see the disaster happening in the village during the monsoons, but the government seems to have other priorities”, she lamented.
Royla recalled that when a delegation of villagers led by the MLA Venzy Viegas had called on the Union Minister Nitin Gadkari during his visit to the Goa on December 29 last year in support of the demand to build the bypass on stilts, the Union Minister had promised to look into the matter.
She said work on the bypass project passing through Benaulim is being carried out at a fast pace, even as she feared that the bypass via land filing may spell doom for the village in the future.
Incidentally, the Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas, besides the villagers had separately called on Margao MLA Digambar Kamat to use his good offices with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari with a plea to build the bypass passing through Benaulim on stilts since inundation of Benaulim would submerge the low-lying areas of Margao, including Comba which was witnessed last year.
