Goa: Group of locals unofficially inaugurate bridge

It may have bridged the geographical divide between St Jacinto Island and the mainland, but the 96-metre-long bridge failed to bridge the divide between two groups in the island. In an unusual situation that has sparked off a political stir in the area, a group of villagers from St Jacinto Island "inaugurated" the new bridge on Saturday morning, hours before the official inauguration of the chief minister.

According to reports, some residents were upset that Revenue Minister Jose Philip D'Souza (who is currently abroad) and other prominent sons of the island, were not invited to the inaugural function. As a mark of protest, the group pealed the bells of the St Jacinto Church at about 11 am to gather other residents and forcibly involved the reluctant St Jacinto Parish Priest Fr Eliseu Barretto to take part in the "inauguration" of the bridge. The locals then confronted Fr Barretto and sought to know how the official inaugural function was being organised without the permission or involvement of the villagers of St Jacinto Island.

The group then held a prayer service at the St Jacinto Cross, before cutting the ribbon to inaugurate the bridge.
Incidentally, Revenue Minister Jose Philip D'Souza's younger brother, Clement, and some relatives were prominent among those villagers who took part in the unofficial inaugural ceremony. "Revenue Minister Jose Philip D'Souza, who is also from St Jacinto Island, was deliberately not invited to the function. Besides, many other prominent villagers were ignored for the evening's inaugural function and hence, we decided to inaugurate the bridge in the morning itself," said a local. "We were promised a cable-styled bridge but the contractor has altered the plan," said another local.

Incidentally, Deputy Speaker and local MLA Mauvin Godinho, who along with his supporters witnessed the drama, urged his supporters to maintain peace and to refrain from taking law into their hands. The police was then summoned to stop the unauthorized inaugural function. A police team rushed to the site and tried to stop the locals from going ahead with the unofficial inauguration of the bridge. The locals were in no mood to relent and challenged the police to stop them from inaugurating the bridge.