Staff Reporter
Ponda
The villagers from Sonarbag-Usgao and Murdi-Khandepar on Tuesday raised the ante against the construction of a bandhara over the Khandepar river, affirming that they will not allow the work at any cost, as they fear that the barrage will trigger floods during the monsoon.
The water resources department faced the ire of the villagers from Sonarbag on Tuesday when officials tried to begin area demarcation work at their side.
The Sonarbag locals vowed that they will not allow any bandhara-related work, even at the cost of their lives. On the other hand, people of Murdi-Khandepar decided to approach court of law after the water resources department (WRD) began the work in the police presence despite the strong opposition over flood fears.
Learning about the WRD’s move to start work with police protection, people from Sonarbag blocked the road going to the site on Tuesday.
Some 100 villagers gathered for the protest, who were also supported by an association of tribals as also the sarpanch and panches of the
local panchayat.
To outwit the Sonarbag protestors, the WRD moved its officials to Murdi-Khandepar side of the river as the villagers opposing the project there were lesser in number.
The WRD began the demarcation work there, running roughshod over the protest.
The locals tried to scuttle the work, but department officials claimed that they have all required NOCs from landowners. The officials asked the villagers to come with documents supporting their claims.
As the Murdi-Khandepar villagers did not commend much support, they were forced to stand as mute eyewitnesses to the WRD’s highhandedness.
The residents of Murdi-Khandepar claimed that one of the landowners has obtained a signature from a tenant by hoodwinking her.
Hence WRD officials managed to have the consent letter from the landowner to use the land for the bandhara work, the villagers maintained.
Anguished by the double dealing, the villagers have now decided to approach court of law against the landowner and the WRD for producing “fake” documents.
Assistant engineer of the WRD Shailesh Naik, who was monitoring the work at the site, said they have got the required consent letter from landowners on both sides of the Khandepar river for the work.
The bandhara is being constructed in the middle of the river and land on both sides will be used to approach the road for facilitating the construction.
Allaying fears of flooding owing to the bandhara, Naik said the barrage will store water at a height of 5 m from the riverbed.
It will have six spans each side with width of 12 m. Gates of the bandhara will be kept open during the monsoon; it will remain closed only after the rains.
Hence there will not be any possibility of flooding in the area due to the bandhara, Naik claimed.
‘We tried to convince the locals about the same. But they are not ready to listen, and are opposing the project. The vehement opposition has delayed the work for the last few months,” Naik said, adding that water shortage calls for the barrage construction.
The bandhara work has been awarded to a Hubballi-based agency PRN Infratech.
The Rs 100-crore worth project entails construction of the barrage and a water pumping station at Murdiwada, and improvement to the Shitole tank for irrigation and drinking water supply to Savoi Verem and Querim as also for a village in Priol constituency in Ponda taluka.
It will be the 19th bandhara on the Khandepar river, which is aimed at storing around 65 lakh cubic m of water.