MARGAO: Giving some ray of hope to the Banalkars, Water Resource Minister Subhash Shirodkar has assured to re-think on the demand of 2.75 km stretch of the western bypass road at Khareband to be built on stilts.
The Minister on Thursday inspected the site along with Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas and assured the locals to convince Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Nilesh Cabral on the issue. He told reporters that the proposed plans can be modified, if people want the changes.
Villagers of Benaulim and surrounding areas have been agitating over the issue for a very long time and their only concern is that the environment be protected.
Locals want the entire stretch of 2.75 km be constructed on stilts, including at Khareband. However, the government has only agreed to build nearly one kilometre on stilts and there is still no sign from the authorities concerned to accept the pending demand of the villagers.
However, after his visit, Shirodkar said, “We can always modify the proposed plans, if people want the change. Western bypass will surely benefit the people once completed.”
He said that the government can look into the demands put forth by the people to build the remaining part of western bypass on stilts at Khareband. “As per my knowledge the government has already agreed to build nearly one km on stilts out of 2.75 km. Now, the government will surely re-think on the remaining part of the bypass that is at Khareband,” he stated.
Shirodkar assured the villagers and the Benaulim MLA to deliberate on the issue with the Chief Minister and the PWD Minister, wherein a meeting will be called after October 10.
Meanwhile, the High Court has directed the concerned contractor to complete the western bypass by 2023 and also warned the contractor not to give excuses. The Court has also directed the contractor to file the first status report by December, 2022.
It is pertinent to note that the agitated locals had sought Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai’s intervention during his visit to the area, recently.
It may be also recalled that the inspection of the WRD on July 5, along with the officials of the Disaster Management Cell of the South Goa Collector, on the insistence of the villagers and local MLA, documented that the submergence of the ‘kaccha’ service road for the western bypass has been laid in the water catchment area, leading to inundation of agricultural fields, besides houses affected by flooding.
Meanwhile, the Minister for WRD also inspected Kamla Tollem and Tolleamband water bodies and assured to preserve and maintain them along with 150 other water bodies in the State of Goa.
