TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Nuvem gram sabha members on Sunday raised fears over the safety along the newly opened Nuvem bypass from Honda showroom to Tata showroom, saying the bypass is unsafe for the villagers.
Gram sabha member Zarina Da Cunha said the bypass has been constructed in violation of basic rights of the locals as the villagers were not taken into confidence while constructing the same. On the other hand, villager Armstrong Fernandes pointed to Sarpanch D’Costa that the PWD needs to take NOC from the local panchayat as per the Central Ministry of Environment when constructing the road.
To the query by Edison Vales whether the government had notified opening of the bypass for traffic, Sarpanch D’Costa informed that he was unaware of any notification been issued. Villager Eng Wilson Borges demanded that the panchayat take remedial action to check arsenic chemical contained in slag used for construction of road that would harm environment. Sarpanch agreed to follow up the matter and also informed that the panchayat had not received the test/analysis report of Industrial Slag from pollution board promising that as soon as it received the report it would made available to the public.
The memorandum submitted by the villagers to various authorities asking preventive measures to be adopted after the bypass road is thrown open was discussed at the meeting.
It was also decided to appoint a special committee at next gram sabha to look after environment issues in Nuvem. Bending to the demand of villagers, the sarpanch agreed to make budgetary provision for filming of gram sabha.
Blooms School issue was also raised at Sunday gram sabha with sarpanch informing villagers to have stop work notice served to the school management. On the demand to file FIR by some villagers against the contractor of the school, the sarpanch stated that he was awaiting the technical report from TCP for taking action.
Villagers demanded that in future the panchayat demand for environment certificate for projects coming up in Nuvem village. Other issues discussed included installation of speed breakers along the roads in the village, demand for proper road lighting and proper signage.
A suggestion also was made by a gram sabha member for broadening of road from Honda showroom at Nuvem to South Goa Collectorate and it was decided that a resolution be taken at next gram sabha meeting.
