Team Herald
MARGAO: Special meetings were called by the Benaulim and Seraulim panchayats to discuss and host a presentation on the actual plan of Western bypass passing through their villages. Both the Panchayats have opposed the filling of lands for the road and demanded the highway to be built on stilts.
Panchayat of Benaulim hosted the consultant of the road work and also the Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao at the meeting. Panchayat members said the filling of land for highway will displace several farmers from their profession and also make the village vulnerable to flooding.
Villagers said if Navelim can get a road on stilts why not Benaulim? Similarly, villagers of Seraulim have also opposed the filling and reclamation of land for the Western bypass.
The Benaulim MLA, while supporting the panchas and the Member of Village Development Committee for no reclamation of land, has also demanded that the dredging of River Sal was also necessary to avoid further flooding of the low lying areas in Benaulim.
While maintaining that the road has to be on stilts both in Seraulim, Churchill said the Village Development Committee members were right in demanding a road on stilts, as a lot of agriculture land will not be allowed to be filled. “The contractor will construct the road and will leave the site and the people will be left to take the brunt of the work,” he pointed out.
The consultants who were at the panchayat to give the presentation initially came up with some Excel sheet files and bar graphs which were rejected by the panchayat members, who demanded that the consultants give a ground report on the basis of Google mapping and actual maps of planning.
One of the Village Development Committee members Royla Fernandes revealed the dynamics of water logging and filling of water in the low lying areas of Benaulim.
