Vijai allays fears over Colva church road works

MARGAO

: Town and country planning minister Vijay Sardesai, on Friday allayed apprehensions in the minds of

Colva

residents over the road-widening work in the village that could pose a threat to the Colva church.

Addressing a well-attended meeting of villagers in Colva in the presence of local MLA

Churchill Alemao

, Sardesai said that no harm will be caused to the church during the work. No religious structures will be affected, he assured.

The meeting was called particularly over the

misgivings

among a section of the villagers over the matter. A large number of policemen were also deployed near the venue of the meeting.

Parish priest Fr Simplician Fernandes, earlier urged Sardesai to intervene into the matter and ensure that the church is saved from any damage. Colva sarpanch Anthony Fernandes was also present.

Addressing the gathering, Sardesai said that as there were many anomalies in the Regional Plan 2011, he had proposed the amendments in the TCP Act, so as to pave way for the formulation of a new regional plan to take

care

of all such vexatious issues. He also said that though he wasn’t a part of the government when the old RP 2011 was formulated that has led to such issues, Sardesai said as governance was a continuous process, the amendments were aimed at facilitating a well-planned regional plan.