the goan I network
MARGAO
Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Sudin Dhavalikar is on record saying the people of Salcete are not giving importance to the opinion of engineers who are confident that the current design of the Western bypass will not lead to flooding in the villages of Seraulim, Mungul and Benaulim.
But, a bigger question remains unanswered. Will the PWD Minister and his engineers explain why the government of the day threw to the winds and did not pay heed to the observations made by a high-level district panel headed by then Margao Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Sanjit Rodrigues, which had recommended around 18 years ago a ‘second thought” on the Western bypass passing through the wet lands of Margao.
“A second though is recommended regarding this project (Western bypass) and instead the required bypass to Margao could be achieved if required by four-laning the Eastern bypass, part of which is constructed,” the Sanjit-headed panel had observed in the report titled “Action plan to avoid flooding in flood prone areas of Salcete taluka”.
Officials say the Action plan to avoid flooding in the flood prone areas of Salcete was not prepared by Sanjit Rodrigues alone, but with inputs from the PWD and WRD engineers. In fact, senior officials of the rank of Executive Engineer of the PWD, WRD, NH-17, besides the Margao Municipal Engineer and the Member Secretary, South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) were all part of the high level committee headed by the SDM Sanjit Rodrigues, which had prepared the plan after taking the ground realities into account and the flooding pattern in the low
lying fields.
A paragraph devoted to the flooding situation between Ambaji and the Highway said that in the vast low-lying areas from Ambaji, Seraulim, Pedda serve as a vast efflux for storm water as well as silting basins. “Major developments in these areas should be considered with abundant caution. A point in case is the ongoing controversy regarding the vast filling which has been carried out at Pedda, Benaulim. Another development in the proposed Western bypass road to NH-17 from Nuvem to Navelim, which will cut a road across this drainage path and should involve a massive provision of cross drainage, including causeway section if it should not pose a major problem. A second though is recommended regarding the Western bypass,” the report had stated.
Work on the Western bypass is stuck up between Seraulim-Benaulim, a stretch of 3.5 km, with villagers along with the local MLAs Churchill Alemao as well as the TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai vehement in demanding construction of the bypass on stilts.
What’s interesting to note is that the PWD minister during his interaction with Seraulim and Benaulim villagers in the South district Collectorate in the presence of Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao had promised to take up the bypass on stilts along the Seraulim-Benaulim stretch. In fact, the PWD minister had clearly stated that the bypass on stilts project could be taken up as a separate project given that the original cost of the Western bypass has already crossed the Rs 500 crore market from the original Rs 202 crore project.
