Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Opposition to Tilamol-Curchorem 4 lane road intensifies

Is the Goa Government is Of the Minister, By the Minister and For the Minister of the ruling party is the question raised by the villagers of Tilamol, Cacumordi and Curchorem at a meeting held on Sunday at Cacumordi convened to oppose the 4 lane Tilamol - Curchorem by pass.

Speaker after speaker lashed at the Kamat government claiming that whatever development is being taken up by the Kamat Government is for the benefit of the Minister or for the benefit of the concerned MLA and is not for the benefit of the common man.

Addressing the largely attended gathering Mr. Christanand Pednekar the 4 lane proposed by the Curchorem MLA and notification of which has already published is for the benefit of the Curchrorem MLA who is in the mining business. He further said that the villagers will not accept the disastrous plans of the Government in the name of Development when the truth is these development plans are drawn by the Government with surreptitious motives. Without mincing words he said that the Government is fooling the people by hiding the actual details of this expansion of the road and he told the villagers that unity is essential to tackle this issue.
Mr. Babajino Fernandes told the crowd of around 200 people that the office of “Ganv Rakhonn Jagrut Manch” will be operational at Bansai to assist the people to fill their forms which they have to submit to the Deputy Collector, Quepem. Mr. Rajendra Kakodkar tabled the detail statics of the traffic on the Tilamol- Curchorem road, he said that the road from Curchorem to Margao via Chandor is more convenient to the people as it cuts the distance to Margao by nearly 10 Kms and with these facts there is no need for the Government to widen the existing road by spending Public money for the benefit of the mining lobby. He said that the villagers had opposed the 4 lane road proposed in the regional plan in the 4 meetings conducted by the Curchorem Municipal Council.

Zilla Parishad member of Xeldem Constituency Mr. Rosario Fernandes (Marathe) said that he has monitored that the mining trucks are making around 3300 trips on a given day from 8 am. to 5 pm. and that if we consider that each truck is carrying 10 Tons of Ore then the total ore carried per day will be 33000 Tons. He alleged that the local MLA gets a commission of Rs. 10 per ton of the ore carried and that could be the reason the local MLA is committed to the widening of the existing road as his commission will increase when the 4 lane is completed. He urged the people to work in unison and teach the traitors a lesson in the coming assembly election.

Mrs. Soccorina Goes who is burning the midnight oil to know the true facts behind the Government move in widening the road, warned the people that if the proposed 4 lane becomes a reality then their life will be at a great risk as the accidents will increase and so will be the pollution caused by mining ore spillage which will bring toll on their health very soon. She said that Local MLA Shyam Saterdekar had promised during a meeting conducted at Chandrabaga Tukoba college hall in presence of Opposition Leader Manohar Parrikar on April 10 2010 that the bypass road will be constructed exclusively for mining. But the truth is, he was lying all the time this was proved when the villagers received the copy of the “Brief Note” signed by Asst. Engineer-II & Exec. Engineer – XXV in which it is clearly written that the work of the road widening has been taken up as per the instructions of Hon’ble MLA of Curchorem Constituency which was duly endorsed by Hon’ble minister of PWD vide MLA’s Note no. Cur/Est/PWD/08/149 dated: 13/2/2008. This letter has exposed the duplicitous talk of Curchorem MLA Shayam Saterdekar which has led the villagers from Tilamol to Curchorem fuming with anger.
Others who addressed the meeting includes Adv.Mahesh Kudchadkar , Ex-Chairperson Paresh Nene.

John Fernandes

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