PONDA: Former PWD Minister Ramkrishna Sudin Dhavalikar said the Shiroda locals have opposed Barze Jetty at Shiroda at the gram sabha held on Sunday.
Dhavalikar refuted Shiroda sarpanch Amith Shirodkar’s allegations that as the former River Navigation Minister he had proposed Barze Jetty at Shiroda without taking the people into confidence.
Countering the allegations, Dhavalikar termed the charges as baseless and claimed that he was unnecessarily dragged into it.
He said as then River and Navigation Minister he had only proposed and prepared DPR for inland passenger jetty at Shiroda under Central government’s Sagarmala Project as it was former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar’s dream to restart the Portuguese era inland water passenger boats from Sanvordem to Panjim via Shiroda, Durbhat, Old Goa and Haldonem by constructing passenger jetties to minimise passenger transport on road. This was also to boost tourism by starting and reviving the old inland waterways transport.
He said Barze Jetty comes under Captain of Ports and Jayesh Salgaonkar is the concerned Minister. If Shiroda sarpanch does not want the project then he should meet the minister and write to Union Minister of Road and Shipping Nitin Gadkari to scrap the Barze Jetty.
With regards to passenger jetty, he said, construction of passenger jetties on inland waterways in Goa is the Central Government Project for which tendering process has already commenced.
It may be recalled that the gram sabha members on Sunday had strongly opposed Barze jetty proposed by Captain of Ports stating that it pollute the river as a lot of waste from barges including fuel and human waste would be dumped into it.
Amith, who is the brother of former MLA Subash Shirodkar, said he is only aware of passenger jetty at Shiroda, which is welcomed by locals as it was practice during Portuguese era to transport passengers from inland water through Vaphore. He said people welcome passenger jetty but are opposed to Barze jetty as they are not into barge business.
He said he would write to Chief Minister and Captain of Ports to scrap Barze Jetty and claimed that former Shiroda MLA was also not taken into confidence on Barze Jetty proposal.
