PANAJI
Come what may, the State government is distinctly clear that it has to go ahead with the Bhoma highway expansion project.
The project, which is witnessing severe opposition from sections of the villagers, is estimated to cost Rs 575 crore and the same has been already sanctioned by the Central government. This is a part of MoRTH project to four-lane the highway upto Ponda.
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral is firm on the fact that only four houses, around 17 kiosks will have to be demolished for the highway expansion, passing through the Bhoma village area and feels that the agitation by the locals is unwarranted.
“I don’t understand why they are opposing it. We are very clear that not a square inch of the temple properties are being touched for this project. And also, only four houses will be affected and the families would be compensated as well as rehabilitated,” he said.
Recently, the Minister had even made a power point presentation detailing the project alignment and other aspects.
The minister said, the four families will be allotted 300 square meter plots at alternate locations with full ownership rights which they do not possess for their present dwellings which will be demolished. “They don’t have any ownership right of the houses or property where they are currently residing, so technically they are illegal. We will provide them a legal shelter and also compensation as decided by the Ministry,” he said.
He also said, the 16-17 kiosks which will be demolished are actually illegal encroachments on government land which was acquired way back in 1992.
All of them will however be rehabilitated by building kiosks in an alternate site where the government is acquiring land near the Bhoma panchayat.
Responding to a question with regards to notices being issued to 64 houses -- that triggered the entire movement -- the Minister explained that as per the Land Acquisition Rule, whenever government acquires land for the government projects, if the land is just a portion of a particular survey number, then the initial notices are issued to everyone having holdings on that survey number and not just one or two.
“I understood that, all the confusion prevailed because of those notices. But let me promise the villagers that apart from those four houses and kiosks, all other names would be subsequently dropped at the later stages of the acquisition proceedings. We are with our people,” Cabral stated.
Cabral urged the villagers not to fall prey to politics and disinformation on the road expansion project.
