In 2023, the Goa legislative assembly passed the Goa Highways Law (Revival of Operation, Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2023, for the purpose of acquiring land to construct new roads and widen existing ones, with the exception of national highways. When the cabinet had approved the bill prior to it being tabled in the assembly, a government official had said that the state had been facing issues in acquiring land to widen roads in order to cater to the ever-increasing vehicle density. The official said that the public works department was unable to correct several accident-prone zones as the Goa Highways Act, 1974 — which made provisions for this — was defunct, leaving the state with no valid legislation to acquire land. The new law was expected to make it easier for the PWD to acquire land for major district roads, village roads, and for road widening too.
It is a known fact that the procedure to widening a road or to lay a new one altogether is a lengthy one. First, the government department concerned submits a request to the district collector, including details like the purpose of road widening, number of beneficiaries, and financial arrangements. The collector then probes the application and, if it is approved, a team inspects the area in question and prepares a detailed project report. Thereafter, a preliminary notification is published in the official gazette, informing members of the general public of the acquisition that is sought to be carried out. Following this, a public hearing is held to address any objections from the affected parties, and, upon these being settled, the government declares the land required for a public purpose and the collector issues an order for the acquisition of land.
Then comes the acquisition process. The land is marked out, measured, and planned by the authorities. Notices are served to the affected parties and a detailed inquiry is conducted to determine the value of the land and any other claims. After this, the collector makes an award, determining the compensation to be paid to the affected parties. Only upon the compensation being paid to those concerned is the land acquired by the government.
If the task of widening an existing road requires strict adherence to the procedure above, it is baffling that unauthorised road-widening projects are being taken up by Calangute MLA Michael Lobo and his wife and Siolim MLA, Delilah Lobo, in several areas of their respective constituencies. The earliest project initiated by Michael was in his own village of Parra, where compound walls flanking the main road were demolished overnight and rebuilt further inland to make way for a broader road and an adjoining footpath. Several trees that grew along the existing road were also felled without a second thought for the purpose. Before the people knew it, the 'project' spread further north towards Nagoa, which falls within the jurisdiction of the Arpora village panchayat.
When Delilah was elected as Siolim MLA during the most recent assembly elections, Siolim too bore the brunt of the Lobos' road-widening frenzy, resulting in several age-old trees being cut and people's properties being demolished without any official order to make way for a wider road amid vehement protests. If anyone thought the MLA couple would stop there, they were sorely mistaken, going by the most recent uprising at Anjuna over a similar project initiated as part of Michael's alleged corporate social responsibility (CSR) contribution.
What is surprising is the Lobo couple's blatant disregard for the law despite the fact that officials of the PWD themselves have confirmed that there is no official approval for road widening in Anjuna's St. Sebastian Vaddo, and that the only sanctioned activity was the "reinstatement of tarmac” in the area where electricity poles had been excavated. The Anjuna village panchayat too distanced itself from the road widening project, and said that letters were issued to residents only to ensure compliance with the recent high court order pertaining to illegal roadside constructions.
An environmental lawyer recently told the media that the contractor roped in for the Lobos' road widening project at Anjuna does not even possess a valid work order. "Also, in the event that any land that is privately held, is alongside the existing roadway and has not been acquired in accordance with the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, these structures on such land cannot be classified as ‘encroachment’,” the lawyer said and added that if the PWD or panchayat proceeds with road expansion without following legal acquisition procedures, it would constitute encroachment by these very authorities.
The Lobo method of widening roads willy-nilly needs to be stopped and the MLA couple must be pulled up by the government of which they are a part. If the government chooses to instead turn a blind eye to this situation, it will be construed as the government itself being complicit in such illegalities. Also, if the Lobo method is allowed to continue, the couple might soon start building flyovers and bridges under the tag of CSR, which would undermine all the hard work that big-ticket projects like the Porvorim elevated corridor and the Atal Setu have had to put in to seek approvals, compensate private land owners and only then execute work.