ILLEGAL FILLING of river mouth: Locals want authorities to ACT

A fresh controversy has been brewing in Loliem for some time now, as locals allege that the illegal filling and reclamation of over 15,000 square metres of river land is going on unabated at the river mouth of Mashem for construction of a four-lane bypass.

Locals point out that the contractor has deliberately changed the coast line and its consequences will be disastrous if the river is not brought to its original state.

Over a decade ago, about half of the mouth of River Mashem was reclaimed by constantly filling soil for the construction of bypass on than NH 17, on either side. However, this illegal filling was subsequently stopped due to the persistent pressure of the locals.

It may be notes that during this time only a two-lane bypass highway was proposed. And now since a four-lane bypass road is being constructed, the contractor has apparently been entrusted with the job of pushing more soil into the river at the confluence where River Mashem and River Galgibagh meet and flow towards the Arabian Sea. 

It is noticed that a big nascent sand bar is formed at the mouth of these two rivers at Mashem and if the river is not brought to the original state by removing the dumped soil in the river than it could result in flooding, which could be devastating for the people living close to this area, allege locals.

A vigilant social activist Manoj Prabhugaonkar, while interacting with Herald said in 2016, when the construction of this bridge re-started, the contractor of the NH66 (new) dumped more soil into the river with the plan of a four-lane bypass and started working on shortening the length of the bridge to cut down the cost. "Recently the contractor M Venkatarao, who has bagged the contract for the entire stretch of bypass NH road from Mashem till Charrasta, was seen pushing huge quantities of mud from the drilling of piers in the river to save additional cost on transportation at Mashem bridge site. The large-scale river filling has already changed the coastline and the new filling has speeded up the process and a huge sand bar has formed, thus blocking and diverting River Galgibag and River Mashem into the Arabian Sea," he said.

Locals now fear that the low lying areas in Mashem and Galgibag would  will get inundated during monsoon as the water flowing outwards would get blocked due to this sand bar at the mouth of the two rivers.

Social activist Denis Fernandes, who has been taking up various environmental issues, fears that due to collusion between the authorities and the contractor the worst affected would be the locals, including fishermen, who venture into the sea with their crafts using the rivers and a bridge designed as low as three metres would definitely affect their livelihood.

Locals say that during last 15 months they have been requesting authorities to act regarding this illegal filling and have been fighting to restore the river. 

 "We have also knocked the door of the NGT and are only hoping that our prayers are answered and the village is saved from certain future destruction," he said.

On asked for his reaction the Sarpanch of Loliem-Polem village panchayat Ajay Lolienkar said "We are aware of the illegal soil filling by the contractors at Mashem river and it was brought to the notice of the authorities in the past but action taken is not satisfactory in this regards, we need development but it should not be at the cost of destruction of rivers or environment. I am going to raise this issue with concerned authorities".