MARGAO/COLVA: In a setback to the state government, National Green Tribunal in New Delhi, has directed the constitution of a ten-member committee to study the objections raised in regard to construction of western bypass on the Benaulim-Seraulim stretch.
Villagers have been demanding that the 2.75kms stretch in these two villages be built on stilts to avoid flooding, inundating houses and stagnation of water.
The committee would consist of members from Goa State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Goa State Biodiversity Board, Goa State Wetland Authority, Goa PWD, Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA), district magistrate, South Goa, Water Resources Department, Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), a nominee of National Wetland Authority and a nominee of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (HoFF), Goa.
GSPCB and SEIAA, Goa will be the nodal agency for coordination and compliance, the order states.
NGT has further directed that a meeting of the committee be held within two weeks and after taking stock of the situation, plan of action may be prepared and executed.
NGT’s principal bench, New Delhi, consisting of chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, judicial members – Justice Sudhir Agarwal, justice M Sathyanarayanan, Justice Brijesh Sethi and expert member Dr Nagin Nanda observed, “There can be no doubt that water bodies, wetlands, mangroves and other natural resources need to be protected.
While construction of a road may be a necessity, such construction should not result in destruction of bio-diversity and other environmental resources, including water bodies and wetlands.
Flood plains of river Sal also need to be protected.” Applicant Royla Fernandes, former sarpanch of Benaulim, had moved the NGT pointing out that the construction of the Western Bypass on earthen embankments through the villages Seraulim to Benaulim would lead to water stagnation resulting in flooding and inundation of houses located in the vicinity She had said that the project is fully on earthen embankments with one railway overbridge and 3 underpasses and 9 box culverts, passing through khazan lands, paddy fields, water bodies, through villages of Verna, Nuvem, Seraulim, Benaulim, Navelim and Telaulim, besides a very small portion in Margao municipal area by illegally filling the said agricultural lands and water bodies.