For the people of Benaulim, who have been calling on the government for years now, to build the Western Bypass stretch passing through their village on stilts, they watched the recently-concluded Assembly session with despair as the legislators of the ruling party, effectively killed their demand by voting against it.
What’s worse is that the PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral insisted that the bypass would be completed by the end of this year too, which for the villagers has set a date for what they believe to be doomsday.
The issue that has troubled the villagers the most is that despite there being ample scientific data to back their demands and the fact that several government departments themselves have warned against the construction of the bypass on embankments, the State government is refusing to see reason.
It is the view of villagers not just from Benaulim but surrounding areas that once the low-lying Tolleabandh areas etc are filled with mud for the bypass, the result will be flooding and widespread devastation.
From the farmers to the fishermen, the human settlements nearby, or the general public who use the existing roads that connect various villages, all face the risk of having to deal with severe water logging.
And the locals are not just saying this – they have proof of how Tolleabandh was filled to the brim and even overspilled onto the roads during the rains in July this year and the previous year, when there were heavy rains coupled with tidal conditions.
Both these times, the Water Resources Department (WRD) confirmed that the high-water levels were problematic and that this was happening when the bypass was not built in this area, meaning that once the bypass is built, these problems will increase tremendously.
The only hope that the villagers have now is with the gram sabha-approved plan for the Benaulim panchayat to file a writ petition in the High Court (HC) demanding that the bypass be built on stilts instead.
It is to be noted that this monsoon, in the neighbouring areas of Mungul and Seraulim, where the bypass is being built on stilts, these areas were flooded during the rain, raising questions about the government’s earlier assurances that by building new culverts, there wouldn’t be such water logging issues when in reality, there was flooding. Locals from these areas, especially the farmers of Seraulim have also demanded that the bypass be built on stilts in Benaulim and warned that failure to do so will cause flooding in Salcete as the natural flow of rainwater into the sea will be altered forever. They referred to how their areas which normally don’t have such heavy water logging issues, faced the same this year due to the ongoing construction work of the bypass and wondered what will happen once the work is completed.
O Heraldo presents the situation so far in terms of significant developments that offer a perspective of what the people are saying versus the State government’s stance.
