Sidelined! Standing on the highway of rural neglect of Bhoma
Bhoma: Fearing that the NH expansion plan will divide Bhoma, and destroy their culture and homes, residents allege the government’s ‘Panchayat Chalo Abhiyan’ is a sham and accuse ministers of neglecting their village. Planted. The villagers reminded the ministers that the people had elected them not to destroy villages but to save Goa and they vowed to fight back and save their village from destruction. Residents of Bhoma are upset that not a single minister has visited their Bhoma-Adkolna Panchayat to listen to their genuine grievances related to the main issue of the NH expansion plan, which they fear will divide the village. And their culture and homes will be destroyed. Locals recalled that they had earlier agitated in 2010 when the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had promised a bypass. Sanjay Naik, a resident of Bhoma, said, “If Chief Minister Pramod Sawant claims that the Bhoma issue has been resolved then he should come here and inform the villagers.” Naik said that four ministers in Ponda taluka have failed to provide justice to Bhoma local people. This shows that the ‘Panchayat Chalo Abhiyan’ is just a show. he insisted; “Ministers have neglected the issues affecting Bhoma village. We are only demanding bypass, but somewhere we are being sidelined by the government and ministers to avoid our issues. If the government had proposed three schemes and one was approved then show us all the schemes.” He said, “Why has the NH expansion plan in Bhoma, once canceled, been confirmed by the authorities again? Show us the alignment plans that were proposed to the central government for the bypass through the hill and fields and tell the date of their rejection ” “We demand details of the plans proposed by the Goa government with the NH Authority of India,” he said. Accusing the Chief Minister of sidelining the Bhoma issue, he demanded that Sawant tell what has been done to save Bhoma. If only two houses are to be destroyed then the government should show us the expansion plan. He questioned why Union Minister Shripad Naik could not change the alignment. He was not expecting this answer at all.
