MARGAO: Locals from Benaulim have hit out at the announcement made by PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral about the Central government sanctioning highway projects across Goa worth Rs 2,229 crore, while not including their demand for constructing the western bypass through Benaulim on stilts.
Agitated locals questioned why additional fund of Rs 150 crore could not have been allocated for the project as per their demand to elevate the stretch passing through Benaulim constituency and construct the bypass on stilts.
They pointed out that all this time the government had given the excuse that they did not have the funds to build the bypass stretch in Benaulim on stilts. The locals have been protesting against the State government’s decision to build the western bypass on embankments even though there have been several inspection reports by government agencies itself, warning of how Benaulim would get flooded if the bypass is not built on stilts.
“If the government can think of Rs 600 crore for Porvorim, why not Rs 150 crore for Benaulim where enough evidence is there of damage and has been flooding for ages,” said architect Royla Fernandes, former Benaulim sarpanch who has challenged the government’s decision in the High Court and National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The figure of Rs 150 crore for the portion between Seraulim and Benaulim was derived from government reports.
Furthermore, the locals questioned how the government was turning a blind eye to their demand when the site of the western bypass in Benaulim had got flooded in July this year, when the work of constructing the embankments had not even started.
Fernandes reiterated that if the bypass is built on stilts, the damage caused to the large fields in Khareband and surrounding low-lying areas will be minimised.
She further demanded that the government respond to inspection reports of its own departments which recommended that the bypass be built on stilts and not via embankments.
Meanwhile, questions have also been raised whether the highway expansion is meant to facilitate and smoothen inter-state coal transport.