MERCES, JUNE 13
With no clarity on the part of the government on NH4A widening process, people have become restless and have begun agitations, but despite being given several assurances people continue to be in the dark over the issue and do not know what the future holds.
And to make matters worse, the authorities themselves appear to be confused over the widening process as was evident on Sunday when Chimbel locals called up Deputy Collector Anthony J D’Souza, the competent authority for work on NH4A widening (north district), to seek an explanation over some work being undertaken by a contractor in the Chimbel creek, which the residents presumed to be related to road widening.
Though D’Souza was able to allay fears of the locals that the work undertaken is in no way related to the road-widening process and that only soil testing is being done to ascertain the nature of the overbridge that needs to be built at that particular stretch, he was unable to answer the queries of the locals over wide-ranging issues related to the road widening.
Ultimately, D’Souza had to admit that he himself is unaware of the type of development that is going to take place in the process, which poses a question whether the government is really interested in undertaking the NH4A widening in a fair and transparent manner.
D’Souza also added that to prepare a land acquisition plan, there is a need to first prepare a site plan followed by land acquisition plan.
“After preparing the site plan, it is put up for verification and only then is the land acquisition plan prepared,” he informed and hastened to add that in this case the process was not properly followed.
He further divulged that to complete the demarcation of the area for road widening, he has at his disposal only one surveyor and one draftsman, which is highly inadequate considering the nature of the work involved and the problems that are accompanied with it.
He then informed that there is no clarity on the width required for the highway, whether it is 60 mtrs or 45 mtrs and added that if it is 45 mtrs, then there will be no need for further acquisition of land as PWD has already acquired land for 45 mtrs when the NH4A bypass was built.
Sunil Desai, Convenor of Diversion NH4A Action Committee, who was present to extend support for Chimbel locals, said the government and the concerned authorities are playing with the feelings of the common man and are least bothered to solve their problems.
Sunil further said despite being given assurances that no work will be undertaken until and unless the grievances of the affected people are solved, works like the one undertaken at Chimbel continue to be executed which only goes to show the lax attitude of the government towards solving the woes of the people.
He then issued a stern warning to the government not to take the people for granted and that time has come to launch a greater agitation, which will be decided at a meeting to be held on June 19 in Ponda where Opposition Leader Manohar Parrikar, St Cruz MLA Victoria Fernandes, Fatima de Sa and other leaders are expected to attend.
Another activist Ashok Prabhu informed that Wilbur Smith & Associates, which were appointed consultant to undertake the work of surveying, were paid Rs 9 crore by the Centre for the same.
However, Ashok alleged that the consultant never inspected the site, did not do any markings nor inspected any houses or building that would be affected and prepared the plan by sitting in their office at Bangalore based on the Google images.
“The plan is prepared to benefit the politicians, factory owners, builders, etc and not keeping in mind the interests of the common man,” alleged Prabhu.
To support his claim, Prabhu divulged that diversions have been made to protect a hotel of a politician in Ponda and also to protect a private company and various other establishments.
Prabhu questioned the logic behind building a highway that runs through the city, through villages and destroys families that have been settled for ages on this land.
He then appealed to the government and authorities concerned to do a re-think on the issue and re-align the NH4A so that people are not displaced and religious structures saved.
