TEAM HERALD
CALANGUTE: The illegal cutting of the road and digging of trenches in the middle of the road at Anjuna to lay underground power cables has caused hardships to the locals and tourists visiting the beaches of Vagator, Anjuna and Chapora. Water supply and telephone lines have been cut off for days and there is no sign of repairs.
A group of villagers from Anjuna spoke to media persons at the site of the illegal cutting of roads over the inconvenience caused to them.
Andrew Pereira of Anjuna said, “The illegal cutting of roads to lay the underground power cables has greatly inconvenienced the villagers of Anjuna-Vagator-Chapora as water pipelines have been damaged; and instead of repairing them the same are clogged with cotton. The villagers have no water for the last 8 to 10 days while telephone lines have also been damaged. The power cabling work being carried out will only benefit a private party and not the villagers.”
Sagar Govekar, a villager, said, “The PWD has granted permission to lay the cable for a distance of 5500 mts on payment of Rs 1,00,500 but the actual distance will be somewhere around 7500 mts and the cost would be around Rs 2 crore. The North Goa Collector has directed that no roads be dug from May 16 onwards and if any road is dug, it should be brought to its original shape by May 31. Surprisingly, the roads of Anjuna are still being dug posing a threat to life and property. The digging work is also not being supervised either by the PWD engineers or the Electricity department. There are gross violations in the underground cabling works for power supply to a private resort.”
Balbim Malvankar, another local, said, “If we complain to the Anjuna Police no action is taken but false allegations of extortion and dadagiri are levelled against the complainants. (Information) provided under the RTI Act by the Assistant Engineer, Electricity department, Mapusa has shown gross irregularities.”
Michael D’Souza, a resident, said, “In Anjuna the voice of people is suppressed and all illegalities are allowed to flourish in the name of development. The underground power supply cable is being illegally laid for a project termed illegal by GCZMA and the government does not seem to bother or listen to the voice of people of Anjuna.”
The villagers supplied RTI copies of the permissions by the Executive Engineer, WD XIII, PWD, Mapusa and RTI Information provided by Assistant Engineer, Electricity, Mapusa, to prove their allegations of violations into the road digging.
