SANTOSH NAIK
The Bhoma-Ad colna Village Panchayat alongside agitating Bhoma villagers has rejected and withheld the No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the proposed new Banastarim Bridge and the four-lane National Highway (NH-748) widening project, bringing construction plans to a sud den standstill. Issuing a strict ultimatum to the Goa government, the panchayat declared that no structural permissions would be granted until the Public Works Department (PWD) publicly presents exact, transparent land ac quisition blueprints for the disputed Bhoma stretch. This was decided during a joint press briefing attend ed by sarpanch Abdul Khan, panchayat members, local leader Sanjay Naik, and a large group of concerned villagers.
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Speaking to the media, sarpanch Abdul Khan clar ified that the panchayat body was forced to withhold the NOC because the PWD combined the BanastarimBridge application with the highly controversial four-laning of the Bhoma Old Goa stretch. “If we blindly grant ap proval for the bridge, the four-lane widening project will automatically be pushed through,” Khan warned. The sarpanch revealed that the panchayat has sent multiple memorandums to the PWD National High way authorities over the past months, but all public doubts remain entirely un addressed. “A few months ago, au thorities laid land acqui sition stone markers on only one side of the road in Bhoma, leaving the other side completely unmarked,” Khan said. “Whenever we ask officials how the road will be widened or which structures will go, they tell us ‘you will come to know at a later stage’. This evasive reply is unacceptable. We are drafting a formal letter to the PWD demanding ab solute transparency before any NOC is re-evaluated,” he added.
Panchayat member Da modar Naik said while the village understands a new Banastarim Bridge is need ed for future traffic, the lack of clarity on land bounda ries threatens generation al residential pockets and temples. “We were previously told that the widening would be handled via a tilted flyover or an elevated corridor to avoid ground-level damage,” Naik stated. “But without a physical plan on paper, how can we risk the homes and temples of our people? We need written, visual clarity,” he added. The agitation leader, Sanjay Naik, reiterated that the lo cal community has stood unified since day one demanding a complete highway bypass that runs outside the residen tial perimeter of the village. He questioned the financial and legal ethics of the ongoing project. “The government claims that a massive Rs 1,500 crore project has been sanctioned, and we know a private con tractor has already been awarded the tender,” Naik said. “How can a contract be signed and massive public funds allocated when the basic land acquisition plan hasn’t even been shown to the locals who own the soil? The govern ment cannot keep Bhoma in the dark,” he said. The Panchayat maintains that its legal freeze on struc tural permissions will stand until a transparent mapping and boundary presentation is conducted publicly inside the village.
