MARGAO
Navelim and Telaulim villagers on Monday threatened to stop all work on the Western bypass passing through the village if the government and the contractor fail to increase the height of the road overbridge on the Sinquetim road to 5.5 meters from 3.7 meters.
Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro, Telaulim Sarpanch Steven Goes, Navelim Sarpanch Bevinda Gonsalves, Deputy Sarpanch Paul Pereira, former Minister Avertano Furtado and local villagers led by George Barretto descended on the road to protest against the refusal by the government and the contractor to increase the height of the ROB to 5.5 meters.
In fact, when the contractor maintained that he has not received any instruction from the government to increase the height of the ROB, the villagers thundered that they will not allow the work to continue till the government raises the height of the ROB.
Terming the work on the ROB on the Sinquetim road as illegal, a visibly agitated Luizinho Faleiro said it is shocking that while the government has decided to increase the height of the ROB, the contractor is doing something different.
“When we had stopped work on the ROB at the road site in July last year, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant at an emergency meeting had agreed to raise the height of the ROB to 5.5 meters. After seven months, the contractor is going ahead with the work without complying with the Chief Minister’s decision. We are not second class citizens. We are a developed constituency and we will not tolerate any such action from the PWD or the contractor,” Faleiro warned.
Saying that the Principal Chief Engineer has agreed to now inspect the site, Faleiro said the government has promised to find out a solution by Friday. “The Principal Chief Engineer has now told the contractor to stop the work immediately. Our patience is getting exhausted. This is not how to deal with the people who are civilized and disciplined,” Faleiro added.
George Barretto told the media that the contractor has started the work overnight after giving assurances that the height of the bridge will be raised to 5.5 meters.
Referring to the contractor’s stand that he has been forced to start the work because of a PIL in the High Court, George said the villagers of Navelim and Telaulim will not allow any work on the ROB on the Sinquetim road till the government decides to raise the height by 5.5 meters. “Like the ongoing agitation by the farmers in Delhi, the villagers will agitate near the ROB. You cannot build a ROB with a height of 3.7 meters, which will not even allow a fire brigade to pass through,” George said.
Clarifying that the villagers are not opposed to the bypass, George, however, said that the work will not resume until the government increases the ROB height to 5.5 meters.
