---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: cyril D'Souza <cyril43deso...@gmail.com> Date: Mar 17, 2009 5:02 PM Subject: Saligao now opposes the bypass road alignment To: edi...@herald-goa.com
To, The Editor Herald Newspaper Panjim - Goa 17th March 2009 *Kindly publish in your letters to the editor* ** This is with reference to the article in todays' Herald under caption ' Saligao Opposes New Bypass Road ' .First and foremost let me congratulate the Calangute gram sabha which on Sunday decided that the government should freeze its proposal to acquire land for the two bypass roads leading to Baga beach and Sinquerim without taking the people of Calangute into confidence regarding the alignment of the roads. Congratulations also to the convenor of Saligao Regional Plan 2021 and all the Saligaokars for joining the villagers of Calangute in opposing the hurriedly planned and proposed bypass road which is going to destroy a lot of eco- sensitive zones like fields and the green forested Saligao hills. Any planning done has to be done by taking the people of the affected village in confidence just like they have put the RP2021 before the people for their views and objections . The person who has proposed this road has definitely some vested interests and that is the reason the PWD has hurriedly sent notices to the Saligao and Calangute Panchayats. *Even the Town and Country Planning department don’t seem to be aware about such a road . *The convenor is right by saying that those slopes where the road is proposed are the lungs of Saligao as they have got a thick forest cover. The road if it is constructed will pass right over the wards of Mollembhat and Donvaddo and could pose a danger if heavy trucks carrying hazardous chemicals and materials come rolling down these steep hills. I don’t understand how in Adams the Government proposes to construct a road on such a steep slope just below Saligao Seminary . If the present road alignment becomes a reality half the forest cover will disappear and half the hill will have to be cut right above the mentioned wards which will lead to slow denudation. In the meantime illegal settlements , places of worship and other undesirable constructions will crop up along these slopes which in time will be regularized as usual .The beauty and serenity of Saligao will also be destroyed if Government persists with the present plan proposed by the concerned PWD department which is to benefit some Industrialists who have bought vast tracts of land on the hill . *I am glad the people of Saligao have united against this proposed evil and demand that the government scraps the road alignment *totally or realigns the road along the initially proposed route on the edge of the village on Saligao – Pilerne border as most of the heavy traffic on this route will be to the Pilerne Industrial Estate. Col.Cyril P.D'Souza ( Retd.) #401 /402 KHH Phase 11 Gauravaddo Calangute Goa Tel: 0832-2282881 * *