MARGAO: Despite the locals of Chinchinim strongly opposing the widening of the highway traversing the village, the team of government staff undertaking the demarcation exercise for the proposed four-lane highway project continued their survey work in Panzorconi, Cuncolim, on Tuesday.
On Monday, tension prevailed at Dandevaddo, Chinchinim wherein agitated locals clashed with the officials from the Public Works Department and National Highway Authority undertaking the survey.
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The residents maintained that the widening of the highway would result in large-scale demolition of residential houses lining the road, and reiterated their demand for a bypass road instead.
Sarpanch of the village panchayat of Deusa-Chinchinim Valentinho Barretto said that there are two different issues; the demand for a bypass and the demarcation of land already acquired by the government.
“The authorities should not keep the local body in the dark about the demarcation. We are not against the government’s plans but the law-abiding people of Chinchinim will not tolerate any injustice,”said Barretto.
“It is clear that the government officials don’t know how much land they have in possession here, and what their plans are,” alleged another local. Nelson Lopes, a senior citizen pointed out that the National Highway authorities had already acquired land in the Dramapur-Chinchinim sector to build the 30-metre width, two-lane highway in 1990, and said that the government’s proposal to build a four/six lane highway by widening the existing highway has been strongly opposed by the residents of Dandeavaddo and Bandfol areas of Chinchinim village.
