MARGAO
The government and the PWD officials may have to answer a simple, but crucial question before bulldozing its way with the new Borim bridge “ if the PWD cannot de-silt the debris left behind in the khazan fields during the construction of the Missing link road at Loutolim, how come can the government restore thousands of square metres of khazan fields when construction material is dumped during the construction of the new high-level bridge through the khazans?
This question has come to the fore and assumed significance after a delegation of PWD officials and representative of MVR construction company on Wednesday expressed their inability to restore khazan fields admeasuring over 5,000 square metres which were filled up with construction debris during the construction of the missing link road four years ago.
The delegation had descended at the khazan fields in Loutolim following a petition made by tenants Alberto Pinheiro and Cesar Soares to the PWD to restore their damaged khazan fields to cultivable state.
Alberto told The Goan that the representative of MVR along with the engineers of PWD Fatorda visited the site of the fields where the debris during the construction of the missing link was left behind.
“I along with Cesar Soares were present along with the Attorney, the secretary and the treasurer. On inspection on the fields the officers informed the farmers that it is not possible to de-silt the debris as it had become stable. They said that only the loose material like the metal drums and a few stones could be retrieved”, Alberto said.
Asserting that the damage caused to a small portion of his khazan during the construction of the Missing link road will be an eye opener to the government and PWD that tampering with the khazans is fraught with danger, Alberto said “still the farmers are with hope that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant would resolve the issue to safeguard the khazans”.
Both Albert and Caesar had knocked the doors of the PWD in the last 3-4 years to lift away the debris left behind in their khazan fields during the Missing link road construction. “We have been opposing through the khazan precisely because it will cause irreparable damage to the fields. The government claims the bridge will be built on stilts, but the khazans damaged during the missing link construction would be repeated on a bigger scale if the new Borim bridge is bulldozed through the khazans”, he feared.
Farmers and villagers of Loutolim have been opposing construction of the new Borim bridge passing over the khazan fields on the plea that the construction material once dumped in the fields cannot be retrieved, rendering the khazans uncultivable.
“If the PWD team was candid in admitting that the debris left behind the khazan fields cannot be de-silted, how thousands of square metres of khazan fields will be restored when construction material and debris is bound to find its way into the fields during the construction stage”, remarked another farmer.
