Team Herald
MARGAO: Expressing shock at PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral’s statement on the Western Bypass, citizens and social activists from Benaulim who have been fighting for the bypass to be built on stilts have claimed that culverts are definitely not a sound solution to protect their village.
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After Cabral revealed the new plan of constructing 11 culverts along the bypass, the villagers and the Committee for Western Bypass on Stilts in Benaulim held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to deliberate on their next course of action.
Meanwhile, Xavier Pereira, Sarpanch of village panchayat Benaulim and President of the Committee for Western Bypass on Stilts asserted that they were never called to discuss the revised plans till date; contrary to what the Minister told media persons on Monday. “We have been trying to get an appointment to meet Cabral, but have not been successful. Hopefully, we may get to meet him today,” he said.
Royla Fernandes, the social activist who led the agitation in the initial stages, told Herald that Benualim is being sacrificed for the Bypass.
“My appeal since 2019 has been for stilts and not culverts, even at the National Green Tribunal (NGT). Because of my NGT petition, the PWD finally agreed to construct it partially on stilts for a 2.75km-stretch and decided to also use stilts on the Seraulim stretch. However, culverts are definitely not the solution for Benaulim. The PWD has only considered the cost of construction as a deciding factor,” she said.
She said all the inspections and reports on her complaints were from Benaulim village, and yet, the PWD has not planned for stilts in Benaulim. “The farmers are not a priority of the PWD and agricultural land is not important to them,” she lamented.
“The Department of Agriculture will surely get a few more lakhs of sq mtrs of land to be added to their growing pool of fallow uncultivable land in the near future. The Environment Department will also get a case study of the effects of such reclamation on climate change and biodiversity,” she added.
Fernandes said it’s quite ironic that the government has directed panchayats vide the memorandum 17/88/DP/ACCT/GPD/AIl BDO / 2022-23/644 6 dated December 15, to implement the ‘sankalp’ (pledge) of the UNSDG (United Nations Sustainable Development Group) in their Development Plans, while the government is unable to take a ‘sankalp’ to protect the UNSDG for Benaulim village.
The High Court wants the authorities to complete the construction and only the NGT can intervene to protect the environment, she added.
She is of the strong opinion that the destruction of Benaulim’s agricultural lands and wetlands will cause widespread impact on the lives of the surrounding villagers, as well as Margao.
