MARGAO
With the contractor resuming the work of filling of land for the Western bypass passing through the village, the Navelim gram sabha on Sunday demanded scrapping of the project saying the government is pushing the Mopa expressway under the guise of the Western bypass.
Agitated gram sabha members along with Sarpanch Frank Fernandes and panch members later went to the site of the filling activity on the Nagmodem-Sinquetim road after the meeting to convey the message to the contractor and the supervisor to stop work on the site.
The issue dominated the gram sabha when members pointed out that the Western bypass is nothing but the proposed Mopa expressway being executed by the government. Participating in the discussions, Sidharth Karapurkar demanded to know why the Western bypass has a width of 60 meters while claiming that the bypass is nothing but the proposed Mopa expressway.
Members pointed out that the Navelim gram sabha had earlier resolved to demand scraping of the bypass, while demanding to know how work on the project has commenced a day ago on the Nagmodem-Sinquetim stretch of the bypass. They have vowed not to allow any work on the Western bypass, more so after the authorities submit the land acquisition process documents and necessary plans to the village panchayats, saying the gram sabha will decide on the bypass only after scrutinizing the documents.
The gram sabha also resolved to oppose nationalization of rivers and further resolved to use the 14th Finance Commission funds to execute nine development projects for the benefit of the people.
