due to which as many as 15 people died after coming under the wheels of the trucks, around 150 residents from Curchorem, Sanvordem, and surrounding areas came together and formed Mission Bypass in March 2008 under the leadership of Pradip Kakodkar.
According to Kakodkar, as many as 15 people lost their lives on the roads in the Sanvordem-Curchorem area; deliveries of pregnant women had to be done in ambulances due to blocked roads as mining trucks were continuously plying; students were reaching late to their classes, some were late to their duties, and many Hindu couples missed their wedding mohurat. Therefore, people had demanded the construction of a separate bypass road away from the settlement zone exclusively for mining transportation.
As the government failed to consider the demands of the people for a mining bypass, and with many fatal accidents occurring, people under the banner of Mining Bypass went on a month-long chain hunger strike in March 2009, demanding immediate construction of the bypass.
“Many political leaders then and now, including then chief minister Digambar Kamat, then Opposition leader and now Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, late Matanhy Saldanha, Shiroda MLA Mahadev Naik, MP Narendra Sawaikar, former Curchorem MLA Shyam Satardekar visited us and all assured to construct a bypass road immediately. Parrikar even said that if he came to power, he would construct it within six months,” said Mission Bypass founder member Martin Fernandes.
He also informed that Kamat, after visiting the striking people, directed the then Goa IGP K D Singh and then Dy SP Arvind Gauns to study the issue and submit a report. He had also promised an independent traffic cell at Curchorem.
The report was submitted, and except for the traffic cell, nothing has progressed. Successive governments only continue to give assurances.
The movement was further intensified in 2011, when Satish Rivonkar, a resident from Tilamol, died in a horrific accident involving a loaded mining truck at Tilamol.
As usual, people protested, organized rallies, political leaders visited and gave the same old assurances, but finally, nothing happened. Things went on as usual; people continued to live in fear with all difficulties, including dust pollution.
People got some relief only when the Supreme Court banned mining activities for the last four years, but the joy was short-lived as mining transportation started again with e-auctioned ore.
This time, it wasn’t just the people from Curchorem-Sanvordem who came on the road. The residents of Tilamol, Quepem, Rivona and surrounding areas also joined in with the same demand for construction of a mining bypass, including mining corridor, as a woman and her daughter-in-law lost their lives at the Tilamol junction, although the two-year-old son miraculously escaped with injuries, when a mining truck hit them.
The very next day, Quepem Deputy Collector Shankar Gaonkar convened a meeting and assured to take precautionary measures while transporting ore, which the people flatly refused. They stayed firm on their demand to not start mining transportation till infrastructure was in place.
Taking cognizance of the fatal accidents due to mining transportation, the Quepem Municipal Council passed a resolution not to allow mining transportation through Quepem town. Barely two days later, the Xeldem gram sabha adopted a resolution to ban transportation through Tilamol.
After continuing their protest for nearly a month, Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral called on them with the proposal to construct a flyover on the existing road.
He said that it was not possible to start the third phase of the bypass road as there were difficulties in acquiring the land, that is, the land owners’ assent was required as per the new Land Acquisition Act.
Assuring that he is with the people, he promised to commence the work immediately on the other two phases: one was the Uguem-Guddemol road and the second was the Guddemol-Capxem road.
After two days, Cabral met the people again with a new proposal to put up barricades after widening the existing road and reserving the two inner lanes for trucks and outer two lanes for all other motorists.
People asked for two days to convey their decision to him after the core committee discussed the matter, and on May 27, Mission Bypass members marched to Azad Maidan, Panjim, where they held a rally to protest the government’s failure to build the promised bypass road.
Kakodkar informed after the rally that they were fighting the battle in three phases, for which they made different committees. One committee was formed to deal with the government, the second committee would deal with the Central government and the third would study the matter and fight the battle legally by filing an intervention application in the Supreme Court.
