‘Stilt road at Karmal Ghat better option’

Canacona: Stating that no damage to flora and fauna owing to the proposed four-laning of the Karmal Ghat road will be permitted in the Western Ghats, Goenkar, an NGO, met assembly speaker and Canacona MLA Ramesh Tawadkar and discussed the option of constructing a tunnel.
Goenkar general secretary Vikas Bhagat said the speaker, assuring to take stand on the Karmal Ghat issue, explained to them the technical difficulty of constructing a tunnel and instead suggested construction of a stilt road.
“If a stilt road is constructed, it will be an iconic project for Goa, as the existing road will act as a service road and a long, straight, and heightened road will come up on pillars without disturbing or displacing the flora and fauna in the ghat section,” Bhagat said.
Goenkar are planning to meet Union minister for roads, transport and highways Nitin Gadkari to discuss the issue .
The ministry of environment, forests and climate change recently gave its approval for the diversion of 29.8 ha of forest land for four-lanning of the existing NH-66 under the National Highways Development Project-III.“This is all they are doing when there is an option to build a tunnel, which will be around 2.5km long instead of the four-lanning across the existing, nearly 7km-long road,” Goenkar president Jack Fernandes said.
Fernandes, Goenkar general secretary Vikas Bhagat and executive member Sandesh Telekar, said the people will not allow destruction of thousands of trees at Karmal Ghats, displacement of wild animals and other natural resources.
Bhagat said that neither the people of Canacona nor Goenkar are anti-development. “We want improvement of the road in the Karmal Ghat section, but development should not be at the cost of destruction of the environment.”