MARGAO: The Seraulim gram sabha on Sunday decided to continue with their demand for road over stilts for the part of Western bypass through their village while paying tributes to former minister Victoria Fernandes and also congratulating the ISRO team for the Chandrayaan 2 mission.
Panchayat member Kevin D’Souza told the villagers that the government had practically assured in the recently concluded assembly session that the Western bypass would be constructed on stilts in their village.
However, it was also pointed out that the government had earlier asserted that a road on stilts would not be constructed as the cost would be tremendous. In view of the conflicting statements, it was decided to write to the local MLA with a copy to the chief minister on this matter.
As for the road underpass in lieu of the level crossing 45 it was informed that the State government has still not deposited the Rs 3.635 crore with the Konkan Railway Corporation as its share of taking up this work while the railways have already paid their share.
The villagers pointed out that it has been a long time since this proposal is pending only for finance even though the chief minister has stated that the funds have been sanctioned. Holding the engineers responsible for the delay the villagers resolved to meet the Chief Minister and explain to him the exact position.
However, as the Collector along with Water Resources Department and Public Works Department are scheduled to inspect the site on Monday the villagers were asked to be present and explain the difficulties faced by them.
The villagers were complaining that due to the work of the Western bypass, the flow of water has been reversed which is causing problems for everybody and they asserted that a road on stilts was the only solution.
They lamented that while the chief minister had promised in the Assembly to visit Seraulim within a month it has unfortunately remained an empty promise as the chief minister has not visited the village till date.
A villager Vincent Noronha asked the panchayat to write to the railways about the work of laying cables for electrification of the railways. He pointed out that the trench dug to lay the cables is done haphazardly going through even private property and have not been covered.
“The huge depth and gap has resulted in death of many animals including grown up pigs and recently even a bull was knocked down by the train,” he said demanding that the railways provide the locals a corridor to cross the tracks.
“Why should the local people suffer for the development of the railways?” he asked pointing out that the locals had no problem crossing the single track but it has become difficult now with double track and will worsen when fast speed trains start plying. Vincent also lamented that Aleixo Sequeira’s promise to make Seraulim the first village to have underground power cables has not been fulfilled. He was told that the high tension cables in the villager are underground but the low tension have not yet gone underground because Seraulim is no longer part of the Loutolim assembly constituency.
He also exposed the government’s falsehood in declaring Goa to be open defecation free and pointed out that at some places waste water and sewage from buildings is being left out directly in the fields that can be gauged from the stink.
The villagers also demanded that the Sports Authority of Goa be asked to hand over the ground in the village to the panchayat for maintenance as presently it is not being maintained.
A villager Olavo D’Souza while pointing out to the hazard posed by the overflowing drains that were not cleared by the railways before the onset of monsoons asked the panchayat in future to write to the railways in March to clear the drains so they do not get clogged during the rains.
The villagers observed a minute’s silence to pay respect to former minister Victoria Fernandes and also congratulated the ISRO team led by Dr Shivam and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Chandrayaam 2 mission.
