SATURDAY, JULY 06, 2024
Team Herald
MARGAO: South Goa Congress MP Captain Viriato Fernandes met with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, to discuss issues faced by villagers regarding highway expansion works in several locations, including Loutolim, Nuvem, Chinchinim, Cuncolim, and Bhoma village.
Fernandes highlighted the concerns of farmers regarding the proposed Borim bridge construction, which threatens to destroy khazans (reclaimed coastal agricultural lands) and farmland. He emphasised the need for possible solutions to these issues and urged the Minister to take the main stakeholders—farmers and villagers—into confidence and address their concerns.
Additionally, Fernandes requested a meeting for a delegation of Goa’s Congress leadership and affected villagers with Minister Gadkari during his upcoming visit to Goa next week.
It may be recalled that farmers from both Borim and Loutolim are opposing the alignment of the new high-level Borim bridge and have held protests, met with the PWD Goa officials repeatedly, filed their written objections and even approached the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The villagers of Bhoma are also protesting for the last few years against the proposed highway expansion in the village. They have also alleged that the highway expansion is meant for coal transport rather than for the public.
In Chinchinim and Cuncolim, there is opposition to the alignment of the highway expansion with the locals having submitted details of an alternate alignment that they want the government to pursue instead.
In Nuvem, locals are opposing the highway expansion, calling it unnecessary as the Western Bypass has resolved the traffic jams that used to plague the stretch earlier.
