MARGAO: PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar on Thursday assured the people of Chandor that his department would conduct a survey within the next two months to find an alternative to the State Highway passing through their village.
Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardessai who was also present agreed to write to the PWD to undertake the survey. However, he also pointed out that the alternative route though discussed in the past has not been plotted on paper.
Both the ministers agreed to speak to the Water Resources Department and the minister to use the service road used to service the Selaulim Irrigation canal from Paroda to Tilamol as it was pointed out to them that necessary area is available along that road to make it a State Highway.
The villagers pointed out that since the Regional Plans sent to the village did not have State Highway passing through their village, they thought there was no highway in the village and were rudely awakened over the matter just about a year ago. Further, they demanded that the State Highway be as shown in the regional plan that was sent to the villages.
Dhavalikar who initially suggested having a flyover for the highway later admitted that the highway would affect heritage houses in the village. He in fact visited the Menezes Braganza house in the village where the father of Goa’s liberation movement T B Cunha was born and which house would be affected by the State highway.
He also suggested to the engineers to see if the highway could be aligned from the Kushawati River without passing through Chandor.
The villagers who have formed a committee to deal with the state highway were represented by the Convener Agostinho Antao who is the former Sarpanch of Guirdolim and the co-convener Domnick Mendes amongst others.
