ON THE ROAD FROM PATRADEVI: While the widened NH66 will serve to boost commercial activity in the State, besides providing the comfort of wide roads to travellers, those living on its edges are unlikely to forget the pain they are currently going through as they give up their land for this ambitious project.
Team Herald visited the stretch from Patradevi in Pernem to Karaswada in Bardez and found that the people are still shocked as they have been given neither notice nor compensation but their land has been snatched from them.
Dhargal resident Mohan Kandolkar said the authorities have kept the people in total suspense over the acquisition. “Compensation for the lost land is secondary. They are not even providing any information in regard to whether we are losing our land or not. The authorities behave like very inhuman,” Kandolkar said.
As the widening work is being undertaken by the Centre, the locals say they are being forced to give away their land, houses and now feel helpless as the State government does nothing to help them, despite the complex issue of resettlement involved.
Samantha D’Souza, a resident of Colvale and affected by the project, said, “Initially when we built the house, we left the area that we were asked to, around 612 sqm, but now they want more.”
She said that years earlier they had been paid compensation for that portion of the land and they thought PWD wouldn’t want more but, however, a site engineer has now told them that they need to save a tower on which people depend for their living.
“The tower is located in the plot of the local MLA Nilkanth Halarnkar,” she said adding, “They are now saying that the road will touch our balcony. They want us to close our main entrance and open a gate at the back of the house. We can’t object as their only answer to this is that the orders have come from the Centre.”
D’Souza said the project does not benefit the people. “They are not doing anything for us, this is benefiting them; they could opt for some alternatives like flyovers. I agree it would have been costly but now they are resorting to cheap and inconvenient ways,” she added.
Illustrating the arbitrary manner in which the acquisition process is taking place she said, “In a Panchayat meeting, a local PWD officer stood and said we are not here to discuss anything or listen to your grievances, you need to sign the documents that you have no objection to this. People are grumbling but no one is ready to talk. We had to sign, it was forced on us. This is not democracy.”
D’Souza said that they were first told that they wouldn’t lose their houses, but now we are on the verge of losing them. “They don’t care about anything. How and where are we supposed to live now? We weren’t even given any notice. Even if we are going to lose a part of our house, we are ready to deal with it, but they have kept us hanging in suspense right now,” she said.
But it’s not just their portion of the land people are worried about. They are concerned of the environment too.
“It is due to this project that various life habitats have already been endangered. Land acquisition has also led to the forceful seizure of agricultural fields which were the only source of earning for us; the air is completely polluted and I have no idea what days we will see in the future if such things continue,” Kandolkar said.
Kandolkar added that the mango trees located along the roads are likely to be lost too. “These trees help in water retention and losing them would lead to problems like floods, particularly in the monsoon months. The implications of which will again have to be dealt by the residents living there,” he said.
Joseph De Mello, another resident of Colvale, said the work of road widening will do more harm to the people than good. “This ongoing work is likely to destroy the environment too; for example, they are going to cut down the trees, a process which will affect us villagers negatively,” he said.
