MARGAO: With the central government sanctioning nearly Rs 300 crores for the land acquisition of the Cuncolim bypass road, locals from both Cuncolim and Quepem have demanded that the State government show the exact proposed alignment to them before commencing any work.

The two MLAs from the affected constituencies, Cuncolim MLA Yuri Alemao and Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa as well as residents of the affected areas, held a meeting with officials of PWD to go over the proposed alignment of the National Highway 66 bypass route in Cuncolim.

The PWD officials were asked to hold a site inspection soon so that the residents get a better understanding of the development plans, the exact route of the bypass and find out exactly which houses would get affected and the number of such houses. The residents also wanted to know the length and distance of the proposed bypass and the estimated cost of the project.

Alemao, who is also the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) pointed out that in the last Assembly session, the government had given him an assurance that a survey would be conducted which would determine the number of houses that would get affected.

Both Alemao and D’Costa pointed out that the residents are concerned about losing their properties, houses or other structures which may get demolished. The MLAs and the locals emphasized that they want to avoid such a situation from occurring and are backing the people.

It may be recalled that there were protests held against the bypass plans in the past.