Team Herald
MARGAO: Margao Town Police Inspector C L Patil defused tension at Sinquetim in Navelim over the work being carried out on the four-lane highway as locals had stopped the work claiming that the land acquisition proceedings were not completed.
Following a lengthy meeting in his office in the evening, PI Patil succeeded in working out a solution by which the PWD officials will demarcate the land already acquired and only then will proceed with the work. This condition was acceptable to the locals who were represented by Navelim Civil and Consumer Forum.
The locals were agitated that the PWD officials had not participated in a meeting called at the Navelim panchayat a few days back where they were requested to come with all their documents to prove that the acquisition process was complete.
The said land acquisition was done by invoking the emergency clause, said the villagers and argued that the emergency clause could not be invoked for a project years after it was envisaged. However, PWD officials dismissed the locals’ contention and said they had the documents to prove their ownership of the land.
Accordingly, it was decided that the PWD would mark the area acquired tomorrow and only then carry on the work.
