Curchorem MLA continues to fool locals Curchorem MLA had assured Ganv Rakhon Manch locals who gheraoed him on Tuesday that he will give his decision on calling off land acquisition for 4-lane on Saturday at 5.30 pm. But he came to the venue at 4.30 pm and started meeting his own outfit Curchorem Vikas Manch. Agitating people refused to be a part of his outfit and stood outside the venue and asked the MLA to come out and address them. After waiting for an hour, around 500 agitators took out procession through the town shouting slogans against the 4-lane and land acquisition. Ladies participated in the morcha in large numbers which culminated into a meeting at Niagara Hall. Zilla Parishad member, Rusario Fernandes, Dr Ketan Prabhudessai, Tilamol priest, Fr Benjamin Victoria, Bhavni Kakodkar, Minino Martin Fernandes, Adv Mahesh Kudhadkar, Rayasu Naik, Ashish Karmali, Malkarni led the morcha. Namdev Naik said that MLA has fooled people again reminding his bluffs that he will not do 4-lane even recently during Panchayat election. Uday Maad Kamat said mining trucks after 4-laning will cause such an havoc that Curchorem health centre will require 500 capacity morgue. Christanand Pednekar said God is on our side pointing to the rain which took off only during the morcha. Atrey Kakodkar said that land acquisition must be withdrawn. Babazin Fernandes said that if the land acquisition is not withdrawn not a single mining truck will be allowed to enter Curchorem town next season. Curchorem locals are opposing the acquisition of 2 lakh sq mtrs land for four-laning Tilamol-Cotarli road for the benefit if twelve miners. Currently the road is two-lane and the non-mining traffic on this road is only 30-40 four-wheelers per hour against maximum capacity of 150 per hour. Even after 15 years the road can suffice. But MLA, Shyam Satardekar, wit interest in mining transport is pursuing 4-lane for his personal benefit. Rosario Fernandes, Zilla Parishad member, said that one local politician gets commission of Rs 6 lakhs a day. He said the miners should not employ contractors. Instead give transport directly to truck owners, who should get this Rs 10 per ton extra, so that they do not overload. There is no provident fund for truck owners if some day mining demand from China disappears. The mine-owners and contractors will flee Goa with the crores they have amassed and the truck owners would be stranded in debt. Ganv Rakhon Manch questioned Sham Satardekar, the Curchorem MLA as to why he was pursuing four-lane road through the heart of Curchorem, where 30000 people reside. A tearful Victor Colaco urged the MLA not to pursue four lane as the existing road is sufficient for next ten years and many houses will be razed. CM, in April 2010, after the death of Satish Rivankar under mining truck had assured separate road for mining trucks from Rivona and Caurem. Also Curchorem to Margao road via Tilamol is no more the main road. Almost all traffic now goes via Chandor, which is 4 km shorter distance. The benefit is only to mine owners whereas the nuisance is to 30000 people residing along this 10 km road. Why the government wants to four-lane this road using public money, asked agitated Christanand Pednekar. He added that people are disillusioned with the democracy and the, the Digamber Kamat government has diluted the definition of democracy to – of the minister, by the minister, for the minister. Ex-mayor, Paresh Bhende showed a two-year-old letter from local MLA to the CM seeking four-lane, to prove the lies of the local MLA, who has been assuring locals during Panchayat elections early this year that the road would not be widened. Ajit Parulekar pointed that the widening was opposed by the Xeldem gramsabha on 8/11/2009 and by Curchorem municipality vide resolution 165 dated 5/4/2010. Rajendra Kakodkar said, “The irony is that while other three MLAs of Sanvordem, Quepem and Sanguem succeeded in passing separate mining roads in their constituencies, Curchorem MLA failed miserably. Even though Sanguem MLA belongs to opposition BJP, he succeeded in saving his voters of pollution by getting Ugem-Costi road bypassing Sanguem town.” Dr Ketan Prabhudessai was of the opinion that the MLA has no right to continue and if he does not resign on his own, he must be forced to resign. Locals on the 10 km stretch had four meeting this week at various locations, which was attended by hundreds of locals, who were shocked to see a notification to acquire over 2 lac sq metres land. At Kakumoddi, Maruti Naik, the Chairperson of Municipal council assured that he would do whatever required to get the land acquisition de-notified. The chief minister on 7/4/2010, after the death of Satish Rivankar under mining truck, had identified twelve mine owners, who transport ore on this road and had put traffic restrictions on them and had allowed aggregate 120 trips per hour. The chief minister had also assured separate road for the benefit of these mine owners. The reduced area of plots will lead to lower FAR at the time of building new structure after present structure becomes old. Many plots would become un-developable due to requirement of set-off. The present market rate in the area is Rs 3000 to 5000 per sqm, whereas the government will snatch it at peanuts for the benefit of the miners. The road passes through the centre of a thickly populated area of Cacora-Curchorem Municipality, where over 30,000 people reside. In addition there are another 30,000 people staying in the areas of Tilamol, Sirvoi, Sonfator, Chinchnagar, Tanki, Xeldem, Kakumoddi, Hodar, Sanvordem, Cotarli, where air-borne dust flies due to wind. The road widening and allowing mining traffic is a nuisance to these 60,000 people. PWD has notified land acquisition merely at the behest of local MLA and has not done traffic survey before finalizing the widening. The road also does not join any major towns. It starts 3 km after Quepem at Tilamol to Cotarli, which is 4 km before Sanguem. The two bridges on both ends at Quepem and Sanguem are not even 2-lane. The main road from Curchorem to Margao/ Panaji/ Vasco is via Chandor, which is takes the most traffic. MLA is not 4-laning this road because there is no mining traffic on this road alleged Ajit Parulekar. Mining traffic on this stretch of road is a cause the nuisance of dust pollution due to spillage from the truck and dust getting air-borne directly from the trucks. The dust pollution has caused many hardships to the people staying along the road. People staying two kilo-meters away on both sides of the road are affected by respiratory diseases like tuberculosis due to inhalation of suspended dust, which is carried five kilometer by the wind. People not staying in the vicinity but commuting or working in the area are affected. The proofs for this are submitted in the various PILs filed in the High Court against mining pollution and are accepted by the government authorities. The dust pollution caused by mining traffic is also causing hardships for the locals due to dust settling in the house, which has to be cleaned frequently. The dust gets into the food items, which is consumed by the people. This is causing many ailments. The dust settles on houses and structures, requiring them to be painted frequently and thereby causing loss to people inhabited on the roadside. The dust reduces the life of home appliances, causing loss to the locals. The mining traffic is the cause of many traffic hazards including fatal accidents, traffic jams and loss of productivity of a large population due to wastage of time on commuting. The dust pollution caused by mining trucks is also cause of agriculture and horticulture getting affected along the road. The effect is observed for two kilo-metres on both the sides of the road. The economic survey of Goa 2009-10 has accepted that agricultural output in Goa has fallen sharply. Paddy reduced 20% from 221K tons 2006 to 177K tons in 2009. Vegetables reduced 32% from 83K tons in 2006 to 58K tons in 2009. Mangoes reduced 56% from 27K tons in 2006 to 7.5K tons in 2009. Cashew nuts reduced 52% from 27K tons in 2006 to 13K tons in 2009. A large stretch of road widening is through paddy fields. The road here is at a two meters height above the existing surface. This will necessitate huge quantity of filling material. The filling material will cause large scale hill cutting. With the increase in road width, the flow of rain water may get hindered causing flooding and water clogging and thereby affecting fertility of paddy fields. No study has been conducted by the PWD before initiating road widening project nor there has been Environment Impact Assessment. Most of the agricultural lands being acquired are under Command Area Development Authority (CADA), the acquisition of which is prohibited because it is irrigated by Selaulim.
