Staff Reporter
Ponda
Reiterating their demand for construction of a bypass on the outskirts of Bhoma instead of widening the existing road, the Bhoma villagers claimed that the government is supporting the builders’ lobby by scrapping the bypass shown in the Regional Plan 2011.
As per the villagers, they have the documents wherein the bypass is marked in the Regional Plan 2011 but in spite of it, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is planning to widen the existing road, which will lead to temples and houses of the locals getting affected or facing demolition.
Addressing the press, local leader Sanjay Naik stated that 10 years ago, the highway widening plan was scrapped, and two bypasses were planned. “That time, BJP leader and former chief minister Manohar Parrikar had supported us. The bypass was even planned through the hilly orchard land in the 2011 Regional Plan,” he said. But in 2022, the locals learnt through a notification that the government is trying to widen the existing road.
It was shocking for us, Naik said, expressing that, “nothing will remain to feel proud of after four lanes are built in the middle dividing the village.”
He urged the NHAI and the government to construct a bypass through orchard land as shown in the Regional Plan 2011 to preserve the two age-old temples- Sateri and Mahadev temples, besides Sati ghumati and tulsi vrindavan.
“In several areas of the state, the government has constructed bypasses, thus saving the houses and properties of the people. Then why cannot it be done in Bhoma,” they asked.
He claimed that some builders have purchased land on the outskirts of the village and if a bypass is built, those builders will lose their land and to protect them, the existing road is being widened.
It should be noted that Bhoma villagers are against the widening of the stretch of Ponda-Panaji highway at Bhoma. The villagers claim that widening of the existing road into four lanes will divide the village into two parts, while there are many houses, shops and two temples beside the road which will be affected or demolished during the widening work.
Considering it, the villagers have demanded a bypass to be built on the outskirts of the village and in this regard gram sabha resolutions had been adopted in the past. They had also threatened to launch an agitation if the road widening work is taken up without taking them into confidence.