MARGAO
All eyes are focused on the January 4 meeting called by the Minister for Ports Michael Lobo with the stakeholders, including the traditional fishermen, to break the deadlock over the desilting of the river Sal.
While the contractor Vaibhavi Dredgers has mobilized dredging machinery, including the one mounted on vessels in the river Sal to carry out the proposed dredging, local villagers of Assolna, Velim, Ambelim and Chinchinim have questioned the move and raised objections to the mobilization of machinery before the proposed meeting.
The locals have demanded to know whether the January 4 meeting will serve any purpose with the contractor mobilizing the machinery.
Captain of Ports, Capt James Braganza, however, has defended the decision of the contractor to mobilize the machinery, saying the latter is bound to do so when the work order stands issued by the department. “The contractor has mobilized the machinery as per the work order issued by the Captain of Ports. The contractor is bound to execute the work as per the work order,” Capt. Braganza said, adding that the January 4 meeting between Minister of Ports Michael Lobo and the stakeholders will take further decisions on the project.
The January 4 meeting will be held in the Secretariat and will be attended by the Port Minister and Salcete’s lone Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues, who represents the Velim constituency.
At a meeting held in Chinchinim earlier this week, which was called by the Chinchinim panchayat to discuss the issue, the stakeholders had slammed the Captain of Ports for calling for a meeting in the Secretariat on January 4 and allowing the contractor to mobilize dredging machinery in the river Sal for the proposed river dredging.
Chinchinim Deputy Sarpanch Valentino Barretto informed that the Panchayat had called for the meeting earlier this week to discuss the issue threadbare by inviting sarpanchas of other villages as the issue is affecting all along the river Sal course.
The villages of Chinchinim, Velim, Assolna and Velim have already resolved to ask the Captain of Ports to keep the project on hold, fearing law and order problem.
The stakeholders, including the traditional fishermen, have been critical of the dredging project, fearing that it will destroy their marine habitat.
They slammed the government for not taking the local communities into confidence, wondering why the Ports officials have to date not engaged with the stakeholders and have even drafted the contractor to interact with the panchayats.
