THURSDAY, JULY 04, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The PWD officials and engineers will visit the proposed new Borim Bridge access road site on Tuesday, July 2, to check the possibility of alternative alignment, according to the famers and residents.
A core committee of the Farmers Association from Loutolim on Monday met the Environment Minister Aleixdo Sequeira and PWD principal chief engineer Uttam Parsekar regarding the alignment of the new Borim Bridge. The farmers conveyed their dissatisfaction with government's alignment proposal for Borim Bridge.
They said that the khazans are eco-sensitive and had been reclaimed from the Zuari river by ancestors over 3,000 years ago and the water is not even one metre deep. Hence it is not suitable for putting up the pillars of the bridge.
After the meeting, the delegation members said the present proposal will directly affect three to four lakh square metres of the 7.50 lakh jhazan land in their village.
Maria Fernandes, a villager said, “We have told the PWD officers to visit the village again and do not make assumptions. We requested the officials to come and see for themselves. They have assured us that they will make a visit to the village.”
“The place is very eco-sensitive and any form of development will harm it. They tried to explain in detail but we said that no proper study has been done. We asked the officials to carry out inspection again,” she said.
Valerian Fernandes said, “They were trying to convince us that they will remove the mud and boulder and clear the place. We told them whatever is there you clear them first and show us, then we will see. They were trying to demarcate the place with police force."
Another villager Luciana Fernandes said, “They are saying that road width will be of 45 metres but in reality it will be 70-80 metres. What they showed today is the same which they had showed earlier. There is no much difference.”
The delegation members said that those who are planning alignment for the bridge have no knowledge of Goa.
However, they said that the PWD officials assured them that they will visit the proposed new Borim bridge access road site on Tuesday, July 2, to check the possibility of alternative alignment.
Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira refused to comment on the issue.
