MARGAO
The River Sal desilting work close to the Khareband bridge near Sirvodem has come under the scanner of the local residents, but for a different reason.
Locals, who have been fighting against the proposed kabrastan project on the banks of river Sal, claimed that the silt from the river is being used to fill up the low-lying area, when the contractor is mandated to lift the silt away.
In fact, the residents demanded that the government and the Water Resources Department officials should immediately inspect the stretch of the river where the desilting work is underway and direct the contractor to restore the land to its original condition.
The residents feared that in the event the land in question is not being considered for the proposed kabrastan following all-round objections from the locals and surrounding villages, the land owners may use the land filling to change the nature of the land for housing in violation of the rules.
Xavier Fernandes, who had been waging a battle against the proposed kabrastan along with other residents of Sirvodem, have cried foul over the way the contractor is helping the land owner to fill up the low-lying land when he is required to tow away the silt at a pre-determined site.
“We have found that the contractor engaged for the desilting of River Sal is removing the silt from the river and dumping it on the banks. We have further observed that the silt is then spread all around the low-lying area,” Xavier said.
Raising questions over the purpose with which the silt is being levelled all around the low-lying place, Xavier reminded that the contractor is required to lift away the silt to another location.
He demanded that the WRD officials immediately inspect the site in question and issue directions to the contractor to immediately lift away the silt and restore the site to its original condition. “The local residents had been opposing the kabrastan from the site on one ground that the land in question is a water catchment area and unfit for the burial grounds. By dumping and levelling the silt all around the area, the contractor is filling up the low-lying land,” he charged.
The land in question was initially proposed to be utilised for housing by some private parties, raising an uproar in the locality. It was later that the previous government had proposed to develop the land for a kabrastan under the Town and Country Planning Department by sanctioning an amount of Rs 15 crore for land acquisition. The proposal ran aground after the new government decided to hear public objections to the burial ground project, with the SGPDA now resolving to return the funds back to the government.
