Western bypass would cause floods in Nuvem, Benaulim, Seraulim: AAP
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 18 February 2016 19:55 IST
The Aam Aadmi Party has highlighted blatant violation of environmental rules while constructing a western bypass from Nuvem to Dharmapur in Salcete taluka which would result into overflooding the villages as well as outskirts of Margao city during monsoons.
At a press conference held in the city today, the local AAP leaders from Salcete also demanded the construction work along the 12-km stretch be stopped until all the issues are addressed in consultation with the villagers.
Local AAP leaders Neri Fernandes from Benaulim and Ernesto Morais from Nuvem have also alleged that the government is bypassing the government report, prepared by then deputy collector Sanjit Rodrigues in 2001, recommending not to construct the bypass through this belt.
Recalling the havoc monsoons had created in two years ago in Benaulim near Khareband Bridge, Nuvem and Mungul area of Seraulim, AAP fears that the bypass would worsen the situation.
While expressing concern that ignoring these issues would lead to another Chennai happen in Goa, the AAP has also alleged that the BJP-led government is hurriedly going ahead with the work, keeping an eye on the forthcoming Assembly election.
The bypass is being built through low-lying Khazan land without providing enough number of underground pipes for the water to flow to River Sal and the fish ponds, they said.
Stating that the bypass would need 24 lakh cubic metres of land filling, the AAP leaders have alleged that the government plans to cut the hillocks of Loutolim, Davorlim, Deao, Verna and Consua.
Fernandes and Morais told the media that the contractor failed to furnish copies of the Environment Impact Assessment report, which is a must as per the MoEF guidelines since the entire route falls in Eco-Sensitive Zone 1.
If he bypass is not built based on the hydrological study, AAP fears that the land filling through the fields would create havoc during monsoons with flooding.
Recently the Parliamentary Committee had visited Goa, indicating that the Goa Government has been grossly destroying wetlands and Khazan lands, while the bypass road is a live example of it, they observed.
