What's next, Loutolim farmers ask after they presented their grievances before Union Minister Nitin Gadkari last week.
MARGAO
Union Road Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has heard the grievances of Loutolim farmers insisting on preserving the age-old khazan fields from being destroyed by the new High Level Borim bridge.
This was followed by an interaction with the farmers by Gadkari’s emissary Manoj Kumar, the Protocol Officer in the Union Road Surface Transport Minister, who assured that the government will take a call on the Borim bridge alignment after taking into account the grievances of the farmers.
What’s next, is the question that has come to the fore, even as the farmers are pinning their hopes on the Union Minister to save and protect the khazans from destruction by the proposed Borim bridge.
Says Chairman of the Loutolim Tenants Association, Albert Pinheiro: “The farmers have explained in detail to the Union Minister their grievances and how khazans will be destroyed if the bridge is built over the fertile fields. After hearing our grievances, Gadkari sent his emissary to Loutolim to inspect the fields and hear the farmers. We have explained in depth about the khazan and how the bridge will spell doom for these fields even if the bridge is built on stilts”.
Indeed, the beleaguered farners have placed their hopes on the Union Minister to save their khazans. But, at the same time, the farmers have moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT) with a plea to direct the Union Road Surface Transport Ministry to shift the bridge alignment from the khazan lands.
Even if the plea made by the farmers find no favour with the government, the farmers and the activists waging a battle to save the khazans hope the NGT will come to their rescue to protect their fields from destruction.
During the interaction with the Union Minister, the farmers had made a plea to direct the PWD, Government of Goa to drop the bridge proposal and related land acquisition proceedings, and to redo the design and selection of the solution for NH-566 from scratch, considering the facts and arguments advanced by them.
They had also asked the Union Minister to direct the PWD, Government of Goa to stop all land acquisition proceedings until the design and selection of the solution are redone based on the facts, and to ensure that no khazans are touched.
Spare the khazans
In the memorandum to the Union Minister, the farmers insisted that khazans have the highest eco-sensitivity and hence cannot be touched. “Our khazans have the highest sensitivity among all the lands and we have experienced the inability of MORTH and PWD, Government of Goa to mitigate damage done by recent construction of the adjoining section of NH-566 (termed as Missing Link) terminating in our khazans. This small intrusion into our khazans has revealed the incapability of our engineers and authorities to undo damage done, and has also revealed the scale of destruction that will take place unless the proposed new bridge is dropped”, they said.
Bridge design
ignores environment
The memorandum stated that the entire design and selection of the present proposal was carried out in complete ignorance regarding the nature of the lands involved and the socio-economic issues involved. “Perusal of the design and selection documents reveals that PWD, Government of Goa is not even aware that a major portion of the selected alignment passes through CRZ areas. The design has been done in total ignorance of the khazan lands involved, the eco-sensitivity of khazan lands, and the dependence of large numbers of indigenous communities on these lands for their survival”, the memorandum stated.
Procedural lapses
The farmers have said the gross procedural lapses and negligence of PWD are not just responsible for arriving at a completely wrong solution, but are in themselves sufficient grounds for commencing a fresh design process. They pointed out that the Consultant was given 7 alternative routes for the proposed new alignment of the NH-566, and it selected Alternative 1 as the preferred solution. However, the Chief Engineer (NH, R & B), PWD, Government of Goa, arbitrarily and without any justification, selected Alternative 7 instead, simply stating that it was the shortest distance from Mormugao Port and that Mormugao Port was the priority.
Existing bridge
not considered
The memorandum stated that the entire design and selection of the present proposal is based on the wrong assumption that the existing Borim bridge is old and beyond repairs, and therefore will not be available in the future. The farmers, however, stated that MORTH has budgeted for and approved Rs 20 crores project for repairing the existing Borim bridge with a minimum design life of over 20 years. The basic assumption for the proposed new alignment of NH-566 and new Borim bridge is completely false, and the design must be redone from scratch considering the basic fact that the existing Borim bridge and alignment of NH-566 will continue to remain in use in the future, the memorandum stated.
