The Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) has refuted all charges made by Goa Foundation in its petition to the NGT saying all steps pertaining to safety of the new Mandovi bridge and the environment have been taken.
In the reply filed by the GSIDC before NGT, MD Sanjith has stated that the bridge has been taken up for construction only after the High Court of Bombay at Panjim took suo moto cognizance of the increasing traffic congestion in the State of Goa and the same was registered as a PIL. The government had filed an affidavit stating that all remedial measures are being taken by police to decongest traffic.
M/s LKS India Pvt, who were appointed consultants to design the master plan for Panjim had suggested a third bridge over Mandovi to ease traffic.
GSIDC has stated that the bridge is not only of interest to the State but also to the nation since the bridge is part of National Highway 17 that starts from Mumbai and proceeds till Cochin. The bridge over Mandovi is virtually a lifeline for the NH 17.
Further, GSIDC says that work on the bridge has already commenced and has substantially progressed. Any delay will be against public interest and will escalate cost by several crores, they mentioned.
“SC has, time and again held that a court should not interfere once a public project commences and any interference at a belated stage will be against public interest,” the GSIDC pointed out. On the charges that NOOC were not obtained, GSIDC says that all the prescribed statutory authorities such as GCZMA, GSPCB, TCP, CoP, PWD, NH, WRD and Conservator of Forests were approached to seek NOCs.
“Two GCZMA officials have already inspected the site and only after that, and complete deliberation and application of mind the Board has issued an NOC for the project,” Rodrigues says.
GSIDC says that an EIA notification was notified only in the month of November 2014, whereas the project started in the month of July 2014 and was not mandatory for this project but it has still been carried out. The report was submitted to GCZMA on August 3, 2015.
“GCZMA which is the local final authority for giving clearance on projects related to river or coastal areas has not asked for an EIA study to be carried out,” the corporation says.
“GSIDC has obtained requisite permission from GCZMA and CCF for the felling of mangroves after giving an undertaking to the Goa Biodiversity Board that it will ensure minimal damage to the mangroves and will restore the said area to its original condition,” the petition reads.
The corporation says that Mangrove dislocation will only be to the extent of a pile cap area of 1517 sq mts. The entire road has been designed and is being constructed as an elevated bridge rather than an embankment, otherwise the damage would have been in 15299 sq mts.
“As far as environment clearance is concerned, the stand of MoEF has been that no EC is required for construction of the bridges and the letter to that effect dated, 2/5/2011 has been addressed by MoEF to GCZMA,” the petition says.
On Environment study of the river bank, GSIDC says it has approached NIO on 23/05/14 to avail of data and information regarding River Bank Morphology and Sedimentation but it is yet to be received from NIO. However, bathymetry data has been obtained from the CoP and also from the contractor.
“The bridge is built in such way so as to reduce the impact on the environment. Also, there are already two parallel bridges in the river. Therefore, the area is not a virgin for which there can be environmental damage,” GSIDC explained in the reply.
Substantiating its claim, GSIDC says the total number of pillars for the bridge is 78 but only four are in the riverine, which is intentionally done incurring additional cost to minimize any environmental effect.
The corporation has also refuted charges that the flow of water in the river would be affected saying, “Flow of water will not be affected as the pillers will be aligned parallel to that of the old bridges.”
About uploading NOCs on the website, GSIDC says, “It is not a general practice but the NOC issued by GCZMA is readily available and can be availed under RTI.”
Stating that the GSIDC has taken all precautions, Rodrigues states in the petition that prior to construction of the bridge, GSIDC conducted various feasibility studies of the project.
GSIDC also approached MORTH to seek an NOC. Prior to granting the NOC, the agency went through alignment drawings and approved them.
“Further tests like wind tunnel have been conducted to ascertain the parameters of the geometry as well. The GSIDC has approached IIT Chennai to carry out a third party checking of design and drawings by paying Rs 50 lakh.
Further, on charges that the river bed would be damaged, it says, “No damage to the river bed will occur due to the size of the pillar.”
“The four pillars are of 1500 mm diameter instead of wells like in the case of existing bridges to reduce the side of foundation and to not disturb the existing foundation,” the petition states adding, “There is monitoring equipment installed on the existing bridges to monitor the impact of pilling on the existing bridges and that is being regularly recorded when work is being carried out. It is found that the vibrations are negligible and will not affect the existing bridges.”
The data has been forwarded to IIT Chennai, according to the corporation. GSIDC further denies that the contractor has attempted to commence work within NDZ of the river.
