NH17 widening: NHAI surveys affected houses in Cortalim

CORTALIM, OCT 17
After a lull of about two months, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials began surveying the stretch which is likely to be acquired for 4/6 lane widening of National Highway 17.
About 3-5 field staff was seen visiting houses that are likely to be affected by the road widening of the National Highway.
Saying that this exercise had already begun in the State, field surveyor Vinay Naik said they had been directed to identifying structures falling between 35 to 45 mtrs of the National Highway.
According to earlier statistics, about 66 structures were likely to be affected in Cortalim which are mostly in 1st Arvale ward of the village if the road width had to be of 45 mtrs.
Thereafter, following opposition from various quarters, the State government had announced that the width of the NH would be reduced to 35 mtrs in areas where it would result in large-scale destruction of structures/houses.
An official from CPWD however ruled out the possibility of reducing the width to 35 mtrs in Cortalim. “We have National Highway 17A catering to traffic from Vasco-Ponda via Cortalim. So it will not be possible to reduce the width to 35 mtrs in Cortalim,” the official told Herald.
However, in order to overcome the crisis resulting from the road widening, Cortalim MLA Mauvin Godinho had demanded that a flyover be build right from the Cortalim junction to the Pazentar near Toyota showroom.