Goa: Chinchinim p’yat awaits action against dangerous trees on NH

Members of the Chinchinim panchayat prefer to keep their fingers crossed as the monsoon is just a month and a half away, and they have no idea whether the disaster management cell will get down on the field to trim or cut down dangerous trees lining along the National Highway 66.

For, the Chinchinim panchayat had been knocking on the doors of the South Goa district authorities, right from the office of the Mamlatdar to the Deputy Collector Margao and the South Goa district collector since 2018 with a single plea -- to trim or cut down the dangerous trees protruding on the NH66 on the Dandeavaddo stretch of the highway, but in vain.

While all the previous letters addressed to the authorities have gone abegging in the last four years, sarpanch Valentino Barretto has dashed off a fresh letter to the authorities, with the hope the authorities will take cognizance and initiate the necessary action.

Incidentally, the Mamlatdar in the South Collectorate-II Jeetendra Bugde has forwarded the letter received from the Chinchinim sarpanch to the Deputy Collector and SDO-II, with a request to take further action to avert any untoward incidents.

In the past too, the panchayat has received similar assurances from the authorities, but not a single dangerous tree has been trimmed nor cut down to date.

“Since we have no power to trim or cut down branches, the panchayat has done the job of writing a letter to the authorities. We are indeed keeping our fingers crossed whether the authorities will respond to our correspondence,” the sarpanch said.

He recalled that then South Additional Collector Sanjit Rodrigues had inspected the Chinchinim stretch of the NH66 during his stint as the head of the district disaster management cell.

He, however, lamented that no action has come from the authorities after Sanjit’s transfer.

The Chinchinim panchayat has knocked on the doors of the district authorities to trim the dangerous trees after a huge banyan tree had come crashing down at Dandeavaddo a couple of years ago, bringing all traffic on the National highway to a complete halt.

Besides the Chinchinim stretch of the NH66, the stretch along Dramapur-Sirlim as well as the Sarzora and Cuncolim stretch have dozens of trees lining along on both sides of the Highway, posing danger to the motorists travelling on the highway.