As the Central Government approved the National Highway widening project from Ponda to Bhoma, even as the locals have been fighting to save the temples and houses, Goemkarponn Editor Suraj Nandrekar meets Sanjay Naik, the convenor of Ami Bhomkar, to know the details of their fight against the project. Bhomkar made several revelations of the sanctity of the place to be protected.
Excerpts:
Goemkarponn: Sanjaybab Namaskar, could you tell me why the villagers are protesting against the highway widening project?
Sanjay Naik: One needs to understand people will simply not hesitate there has to be some reason for that. The tradition and culture left behind by our ancestors has to be preserved. The temples in Bhoma are as important as those in Mardol or Mangueshi.
The story of these temples in Bhoma like Narayandev, Malikarjun, Sateri, Mhadev, Sati is 400 years old. This is called panchatan, which cannot be found anywhere else in India.
The BJP has built a temple at Ayodhya because they believed the Lord was born there. But if you look here the government is confused.
WilberSmith, who did the consultancy for the project does not have any knowledge of the villages. They have done based on Google Maps. They can only see houses and shops and claim there would be no damage to temples.
Goemkarponn: But the government says only four houses would be erased for the project and no damage to temples. Your say?
Sanjay Naik: The question is not of houses and temples. The government acquired land for the project in 1991 but stopped up to the Sati temple, why? There must have been some reason. When they did the ground report they did find many things, but the government did not know anything. They felt only a few structures would be erased. The government has brought back the same survey plan we rejected in 2015.
Now to fleece the people a legislator comes to convince them saying only four houses would be demolished. He said there was no need for a flyover. He did not allow me to reply there at the meeting but I want to tell him that he first needs to understand the meaning of Nagzar, it is Nag – Zar. He must understand what is Barazan, which are called Devchars or Rakhandars of village borders.
Goemkarponn: The government says the shops here are illegal. Your say?
Sanjay Naik: They are confused, I told you. These shops and houses here are from before 1965 and now they are asking for proof. If the houses and shops are illegal why no notices have been issued by PWD or any other department to date?
Goemkarponn: The government says they will rehabilitate the houses.
Sanjay Naik: The question of rehabilitation of houses does not exist. When we are ready to die in these religious places, the question of saving houses and shops does not exist.
Goemkarponn: The government says there won’t be any damage to temples, so on what basis do you say you want to protect tradition, culture and religious places?
Sanjay Naik: I told you the government is so confused the Chief Minister says one thing, Govind Gaude says another and Nilesh Cabral says something else. Who do we believe? They themselves do not know what they plan to do.
In the last two years, we have seen at least five years. Now they say no temples would be touched but RTI says something else. Now should we believe RTIs or what is said orally? As per the plan, they have a marked bus stand near Mahadev temple and another bus stop at another temple. So what is this?
Let me tell you MLA Ganesh Gaonkar wanted NHAI to reduce the width of the road from 45 meters to 25 meters at Collem but they did not listen. So on what basis they will permit here and why are they trying to mislead us?
Goemkarponn: So how much land has been acquired so far in Bhoma village?
Sanjay Naik: To tell you frankly, they are misleading all Goans, the government does not have a single square meter of land in this village from Sati Devasthan. They wanted to forcefully grab land as they felt only a few were opposing. I told you we do not want any compensation but we want to protect this Devbhoomi. The curse of forcefully grabbing land will fall on the BJP government. Let them start demolitions with the excavators, let them show them their power while we have faith in our deities here.
Goemkarponn: Apart from the temples you said there was a spring and a religious tali, what is the history of that?
Sanjay Naik: Let me take you there.
This is the tali or a small pond which is right opposite the temple of Narayandev. This tali, which has a spring, is 400 years old and is very deep. The government has some destructive plans and that is the reason they have constructed retaining walls here so that people do not know about its importance. There is a big relationship between this tali, Narayandev and Sateri temple and the traditional Kalo. There are different stories for this structure. This tali and spring are very very crucial to the village.
The award has already been passed for this tali yet the government is in denial mode saying this won’t be touched. This is some kind of a joke.
They say they will have a flyover but who will believe them?
Goemkarponn: Where is the main spring of Nag-Zar?
Sanjay Naik: Here let me show you across the road.
This spring has equal religious importance. The wells in close proximity which are much deeper do not have water but this spring just three feet in height is full of water around the year. Is this not a miracle?
People have so much faith in these places and the government just want to destroy them, which we will never allow.
Goemkarponn: My final question to you Sanjaybab, is we understand the feelings of the people but is there a way out? Is there another option for a bypass?
Sanjaybab: There is already an option. The government itself has come up with a bypass option but we do not know why they are not going with it. Manoharbhai had already scrapped this project in 2002 after knowing the sentiments attached and the religious importance of the place. He had asked for a bypass but this government without taking villagers into confidence has gove ahead with the project.
