Three-time Benaulim Zilla Panchayat member, Maria Rebello, on Thursday appealed to PWD Minister, Sudin Dhavalikar, not to rush with the work on the Margao Western bypass, but to take a call only after studying the flood pattern in the water catchment areas of Benaulim, Colva and Seraulim during the monsoons.
Maria told the media that people of Benaulim, Seraulim and Colva are not opposed to the Margao Western bypass, saying that people of these villages are only demanding the bypass should be built on stilts as they apprehend large-scale flooding.
“The PWD Minister should direct the contractor not to take up the actual land-filling work before the onset of monsoon. Let the Minister, PWD officials and experts study the flood pattern in the Seraulim-Colva-Benaulim water catchment area before taking any decision,” she said.
Issuing a warning that people of these three villages will not tolerate any government attempt to bulldoze its way with the Margao Western bypass on earthen embankments, the Benaulim Zilla Panchayat member warned that any such action will only bring the agitating villagers on the streets to oppose land-filling activity.
Maria recalled that then Deputy Collector, Margao Sanjit Rodrigues, whose team had conducted a study on the flooding in Salcete, had recommended a re-think on the government decision to construct the Margao Western bypass through the water catchment areas of Benaulim-Colva-Seraulim.
