MARGAO
Benaulim villagers rushed to the local panchayat body to ensure the resolution adopted by the panchayat on Wednesday is handed over to the lawyer to file a writ petition in the High Court, even as the PWD went about land filling along the bypass stretch with police protection.
The villagers also made an impassioned plea to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to help get the bypass on stilts, saying building the bypass by filling of land will have devastating consequences for the people inhabiting the village.
The villagers descended on the Panchayat Ghar to get a copy of the resolution adopted by the panchayat on Wednesday to appoint a lawyer to represent the body in the High Court. Since they were told that the resolution copy appointing the lawyer is not signed by the sarpanch, the villagers went to the Panchayat Ghar to ensure the resolution is ready in all respects and pave way for the appointment of the lawyer.
Deputy Sarpanch Nilesh Prabhudesai informed that the resolution and the appointment letter could not be signed since the Sarpanch Vencila Fernandes was attending a training programme at the district Collectorate. “In the evening, we went to Panaji with the resolution appointing the lawyer. The lawyer has been suggested by the Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas and we had told the lawyer to take appropriate decision on behalf of the panchayat body to ensure the bypass is built on stilts,” Nilesh said.
Royla Fernandes, the petitioner in the western bypass matter before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), said the PWD is filling up the land along the stretch in a big way on the plea they have acquired the land for the bypass. “We had submitted a petition to the Panchayat in July 2021 on the matter, but no action was forthcoming from the panchayat body. I would like to remind that the gram sabha in 2016 had demanded the bypass on stilts, but the local body did not act on the resolution,” she added.
When asked whether the panchayat resolution to appoint a lawyer to represent the body in the High Court would help in getting the bypass on stilts, Royla shot back saying justice delayed is justice denied. “The panchayat should have taken action in the matter in June last when the villagers had protested peacefully on the issue.”
Another villager Santan Pereira said the panchayat body should have taken a proactive decision in the matter earlier to save the village from destruction. “The question of filing a petition should have taken place earlier. The previous MLA should have acted. The present MLA is with the villagers. The entire village will be inundated under water in the event the bypass is not built on stilts,” he feared.
Meanwhile, even as the anxious villagers were trying to get the panchayat body appoint a lawyer to file a petition in the High Court, the PWD, National Highway went about the work of land filling along the 2.75 stretch to build the bypass.
Of the 2.75 km balance stretch of the bypass, the expert committee constituted by the NGT has recommended construction of the bypass on stilts at a stretch of 980 metres between the wholesale fish market at Seraulim to the Mungul railway bridge.
Presently, land filling is being undertaken along the entire 2.75 km stretch, with PWD officials saying the land is being filled up along the 980 metre stretch to facilitate transportation of machinery to build the bypass on stilts along this particular stretch.
