OLD GOA
Stating that hundreds of structures, including religious and heritage, would be destroyed, the Neura locals resolved to oppose the widening of road from Pilar to Old Goa at any cost.
The resolution was passed at a special gram sabha held in the Neura panchayat hall, on Sunday, as over 300 locals remained present for the meeting.
Among those present included Neura sarpanch Usha Naik, deputy sarpanch Vinod Kamat, St Lourenco ZP member Dhaku Madkaikar, St Andre MLA Francisco Silveira, Save Neura forum’s president Amilcar Alvares and others.
Speaking at the gram sabha, Neura deputy sarpanch Vinod Kamat informed that it was only a month back that they came to know that the Centre has issued NOC to widen the Pilar to Old Goa road to 25 metres width.
“If the widening is allowed many chapels, crosses, temples, houses, including heritage, compound walls will be demolished,” Kamat pointed out and urged the locals to raise their voices against the road widening.
“We will have to show unity and if the need arises we may even have to come on the roads to save our houses,” Kamat said while stating that there is absolutely no need to widen the road.
“We may even have to go to court and for that, we will require a contribution from all. All the panchas should contribute their one month’s salary towards legal expenses,” he appealed.
“In many areas, the government has built bypass roads to save houses and here too a bypass road should be built to save the hundreds of structures from demolition,” he opined.
Save Neura forum’s president Amilcar Alvares said that there is a plan to convert the road into a national highway, possibly for coal transportation.
“However, the local panchayat as well as the local MLA have been kept in the dark on the issue. The MLA says that he is not aware even though he is part of the ruling government,” Alvares stated while urging the locals to take the issue seriously and extend their support as and when required.
Alvares further called upon all the affected panchayats to come together to oppose the project. “Apart from Neura, panchayats including Goa Velha, Agassaim, Azossim-Mandur, Carambolim and Old Goa are also affected as structures within their jurisdiction are also going to be demolished if road widening is allowed,” he informed.
“We should not allow even one inch to be touched and for that, we may even have to hit the streets to enjoy the victory,” Alvares stated.
Another speaker Shashikant Sawant said that if the locals fail to convince the government to halt the project, then agitation is the only option. “All villagers have to support the agitation irrespective whether their structures are affected or not,” Sawant stated.
Stating that the road widening is taken up only for coal transportation, local Viresh Borkar informed that they will not allow even one structure to be touched.
“We had opposed the road widening earlier and we will continue our opposition against it,” Borkar added while decrying that their demand to scrap the project has not been heeded.
A senior citizen exhorted the locals to oppose the road widening at any cost as it would bring in largescale destruction. “When the Konkan Railway line passed through our village, we were promised a lot, but we suffered tremendously and the same thing will happen in this instance. Hence, we have to oppose the project at any cost,” he appealed.
Later, the villagers adopted resolutions against the project which were read out by Adv Nihal Kamat.
The resolutions stated that the gram sabha opposes the proposed 25 metres MDR road from Pilar to Old Goa while urging the government to revert the same to the village road.
Another resolution was passed for identification of heritage sites in Neura so that the same may be sent to the conservation committee of TCP to include in the conservation list.
Finally, it was resolved that a biodiversity committee be appointed to prepare a report in collaboration with the Forest Department to conduct an inventory of all the trees affected by the proposed Pilar-Old Goa MDR road.
