Team Herald
PANJIM: The Congress has accused the BJP-led government of colluding with Centre to secretly declare 406 kms of internal inter-village roads and main district roads as National Highways.
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Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar stated that the State government, in 2017 had secretly given in-principle approval for converting these lower traffic rural and urban roads into National Highways.
“The in-principle approvals grant statutory powers to Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to acquire the land and convert it into 4 and 6 lane highways,” he said.
“Can you imagine the right of way for the said highways itself will be 45 mts minimum on either side of the four or six-lane highway? Does the government even realise how many people in Salcete and Bardez alone will be losing their homes and property?” Chodankar further questioned.
“After bulldozing decisions to lay high-tension power lines through Mollem forest, unwanted double tracking for converting Goa into coal hub and now this shocking decision all pushed quietly, the State government is turning out to be ‘brokers jahil’ (uneducated) party which in collusion with the Centre is not even asking nor telling the people of Goa whether they needed these highways or not.”
As per the Central government report titled Pragati Ki Nayi Gati (The New Pace of Development) that has been proposed and decided upon under Bharatmala Scheme of Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, additional 406 kms of National Highway has been granted in-principle approval over and above the existing 262 kms of National Highway.
Chodankar said that as per conservative estimates, if all the existing roads are presently assumed to be around 15 mts wide, the total land needed for the expansion is more than 121 lakh sq mts.
“This document was prepared in 2018 and therefore it is evident that this plan was in motion during the current and previous BJP governments in the State and was also known to both its allies present and the past. Yet no one opposed it,” he pointed out.
The new notified National Highways implies that thousands of structures including houses, temples, churches and heritage structures will have to be demolished in dense settlement areas of Goa and leave thousands homeless and landless, claimed Chodankar and demanded with the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to come out clean on the issue.
