Flyover or Bypass? Chinchinim locals seek clarity on road expansion at Dandeavado

Team Herald

MARGAO:  Frustrated with the confusion and uncertainty from the government, the residents of Chinchinim  have called on Minister for Public Works Department Nilesh Cabral, besides Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to give them clarity on the proposed six-lane flyover at Dandeavado, appealing to the government to avoid a second bout of uprooting trees and displacing people, like it was done 34 years ago, when the government acquired a 30-metre stretch for the two-lane road. 

Instead, the locals demand that a 2.5km-long bypass road be constructed as an alternative, to spare the residents of the 50-odd houses located close to the road from the noise and dust of the roadwork.  

“When this road was built 34 years ago, a lot of houses were destroyed- some partially and others, completely. We don’t want a repeat of the same,” said Nelson Lopes, a resident of Chinchinim.  

 Earlier, the anxious locals held meetings with the PWD, Collector, Ministers and the consultants; as a result, then Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar had asked that three alternative routes be flagged for the information of residents before finalising one. The bypass was one of the alternative routes drawn up by the consultants. 

At the gram sabha, the Chinchinim panchayat unanimously resolved to demand the bypass option.  

“Our frequent inquiries were met with evasive replies, that the plan for the stretch is not finalised yet. Recently at meetings with prominent MLAs, it was disclosed for the first time that secretly and without taking the people into confidence, that a flyover was being planned,” said Lopes.  

“The plans for the bypass put it within the village boundaries of Chinchinim, and it joins alternative routes two and three. The flyover will nearly touch the residential houses and further aggravate their problems with smoke, sound and dust pollution, which are major health hazards,” he said. He added that the authorities cannot compute the cost of human suffering, displacement, reconstruction and rehabilitation. The bypass certainly avoids complications of these issues, he added.