MARGAO: Against the backdrop of the public demand for the Western Bypass passing through Benaulim to be built on stilts, concerns have been raised over the State government’s delay to complete the survey of the low-lying areas by a hydrologist, as promised.
It may be recalled that the Water Resources Department (WRD), which had inspected the floods in Benaulim in July, had officially warned that there could be a greater level of flooding if the bypass is built on embankments.
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While the WRD had recommended that a hydrologist be appointed and the PWD Minister gave a similar assurance in the Assembly, the Benaulim village-level committee had raised this issue in May itself.
The village committee comprising locals and panch members had been formed as per the gram sabha resolution to assist the Benaulim panchayat on the bypass issue. However, the initiatives they worked on have come to a standstill, such as their hunt for a hydrologist.
“The committee had done all the follow-up work in finding a hydrologist and the panchayat was supposed to sanction the order at its next meeting. However, that did not happen. But that didn’t happen and after the panchayats were dissolved, the panchayat administrator also just gave empty promises,” said Rudolf Barretto, one of the members.
Moreover, the signature campaign the committee members started working on also met a dead end.
While they managed to get over 5,000 signatures, many of the previous panchas, some of whom did not get elected again, did not return the form. The petition with 10,000 signatures was supposed to have been sent to the Prime Minister.
Another committee member Royla Fernandes who had earlier approached the courts, emphasised that the 10-member committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) should have been apprised of the WRD’s inspection and recommendations after the area flooded after just four days’ rain. “The government’s decision about the embankment definitely has to be replaced by the construction of stilts to avoid a disaster,” Royla added.
