KARSTEN MIRANDA
karsten@herald-goa.com
BENAULIM: Villagers of Benaulim are perturbed with the fact that government is spending Rs 2,229 crore on highway projects across Goa but is unable to allocate only Rs 150 crore from that amount to build a 2.5 km stretch of the Western Bypass passing through Benaulim on stilts and not via the existing plan of embankments.
The PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral recently announced that the central government has sanctioned Rs 2,229 crore for highway projects across Goa.
The biggest contention of Benualim villagers with the PWD Minister is that he is sticking to what the 10-member NGT committee had recommended about building the bypass on embankments only, even though there are several inspection reports from government agencies itself that contradict the recommendations of that committee.
Architect Royla Fernandes, the former Benaulim Sarpanch, who is also the petitioner before the High Court and NGT, gave the example of the recent inspection carried out by the Water Resources Department (WRD) about the flooding that occurred in July directly shows that the report presented to the NGT committee on August 2021 was incorrect.
Before the NGT committee, the WRD had done a study that acknowledged the low-lying area is prone to flooding in the monsoon.
But it tried to soften the blow of the impact of the western bypass being built on embankments.
It claimed that as per their detailed analysis of the peak flood discharge, the flood spread area calculation and area of back filling, ‘there would be no significant rise in flood level due to the proposed back-filling for the Western Bypass.’
Fast forward to August 2022, a year later, where the WRD own inspection report not only warned of flooding if the western bypass was built via embankments, it pointed out that flooding had taken place even before the low-lying areas were filled for the western bypass.
“If the government can think of spending Rs 600 crore (of the 2,229 crore) for Porvorim highway project, why not spend Rs 150 crore for Benaulim where there is enough evidence of damage and where there has been flooding for ages,” said Fernandes.
Other locals who have attended multiple gram sabhas, been present for the inspections and also carried out a signature campaign rued the fact that the State government was reluctant to look at the reports of its own departments.
While the Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas had raised this issue in the Assembly following the July floods, the PWD Minister had given an assurance that a survey would be conducted by a hydrologist to analyse the water carrying capacity of the Benaulim stretch of the western bypass during the monsoon.
