Team Herald

VASCO: The Cansaulim gram sabha has agreed to give its consent for the long pending road over bridge (ROB) at level crossing number 25 at Arossim in Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim (CAC) panchayat jurisdiction. The decision was taken during the ordinary gram sabha meeting of CAC village held on Sunday morning at the panchayat hall and in presence of Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha.

During the discussion, a landlord raised objected to the new alignment for the project and demanded that the ROB should be constructed as per old plan. Later, Sarpanch Marta Saldanha stressed on the need for the ROB. She said that once the project is completed, the same would benefit the villagers and others using Cansaulim-Arrosim road to commute towards their destinations daily, as currently the commuters are forced to wait for long time at railway crossing during train movements. 

She also informed that the project has been aligned in a manner that not a single house would be touched and only the compound walls of few property owners would be demolished.

“Today only one person had raised objections for the ROB project. Though we had earlier received a letter from the landlords that they are objecting the project, however, now except for one landlord all other landlords have agreed to support the project. Today, even the gram sabha members resolve to give consent for the project and now we will ask the government to start and complete the project on war footing,” Marta Saldanha said.

Other issues such as construction of new panchayat ghar, development of open spaces and other parks for villagers, other developmental projects were also discussed during the gram sabha that witnessed noisy scene at regular intervals. Few gram sabha members even decided to boycott the meeting midway allegedly over objectionable remarks passed on them during the meeting.  

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha said, “This is a very, very urgently needed bride and I am happy that all the villagers have agreed for the same. As rightly said by the sarpanch, land owners have been misinformed about the project by various vested interests.”

Hitting back at those objecting to the ROB, Saldanha said, “The bridge has to be taken up at the earliest, because we have already wasted over two long years over unnecessary issues. I don’t understand why some villagers think that they have the right to plan for the other villagers. They are not the town planners nor are they qualified to take over such responsible tasks.”

 The plans that these landlords had placed before the government was rejected giving all valid reasons and I think they should now understand this. If we delay too much, then, we may miss the funding that the Central government has agreed to provide for the project and the bridge may never happen. I therefore call upon all the villagers to stay united to ensure that this project becomes a reality soon.”