PANJIM: Reiterating their objection to the expansion of National Highway-4A, the residents of Bhoma and Corlim villages in Tiswadi taluka on Tuesday urged the State government to protect their heritage temples, shops and Portuguese-era houses by constructing a bypass instead.
Speaking to media persons at Azad Maidan, Panjim, the villagers urged the government to consider constructing a properly-aligned bypass road on the outskirts of the village without destroying the village. Local Sanjay Naik alleged that government officials on Monday began marking the private properties of villagers for expansion of the NH without even acquiring the said properties first. “We had agitated against the then Congress government in 2011, and at that time, the BJP had supported us, and successfully stopped the widening of the road.Now, the same BJP is going against the interests of villagers. The future of our children will be destroyed if the government goes ahead with this project,” Naik said.
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Naik alleged that plots have been developed illegally at one of the proposed sites of the highway expansion.
Another local Anantdas Naik pointed out that the authorities are refusing to share any notified plans for the expansion of the highway with the villagers. “In the absence of official notified plans, we fear that our entire village will be wiped out,” he said.
