Team Herald
MARGAO: Following their recent meeting with Union Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari, the Chinchinim-Deussua panchayat is hoping that the Central government will accept their demand for a bypass road in lieu of the flyover planned in the village.
On Thursday, when Gadkari was in Goa to inaugurate the new Zuari Bridge, Chinchinim-Deussua Sarpanch Valentino Barretto along with panch members met the Union Minister in the presence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral, and submitted a memorandum listing their demands and concerns. “We appealed to the Union Highway Minister to intervene and give justice to the long pending demand of the people of Chinchinim to consider Alternate-1 as a proposal for by-pass road NH-66,” said Barretto.
“The proposed bypass will avoid congested areas and will have a lot of scope for future expansion. The people of Dandeavaddo were already displaced by the earlier land acquisition in 1989,” Barretto added. When asked about the outcome of the meeting with Gadkari, Deputy Sarpanch Sharmila Gracias, who is the concerned ward member, said, “I have full faith in God and the government that our demand will be met.”
It may be recalled that the Union Highway Ministry had recently announced a Rs 300-odd crore package for the four-laning of the Navelim-Cuncolim stretch of the National Highway-66, which includes a four-lane road with a paved pedestrian pathway and a flyover at the congested Dandeavaddo area of Chinchinim. However, the residents have raised their objections to this proposal and have demanded a road bypass, starting from Sirlim, before the bypass joins the National Highway just before Sarzora.
In the memorandum given to Gadkari, copies of all the correspondence over the years between the panchayat and various government departments were attached, including the gram sabha resolutions. The panchayat had also adopted a resolution in support of the bypass road.
