CANACONA: Irked over substandard work of asphalting NH66 at Mashem, local vigilantes stopped the contractor from continuing the “subpar” work on Thursday evening.
Later, local MLA and Deputy Speaker Isidore Fernandes, who arrived at the spot, ordered the contractor to scrape off the already laid road and redo the asphalting as per the Public Works Department standards’ manual.
The shoddy work by the Public Works Departmentcontractors has drawn flak from the locals who are seen supervising the work.
Local vigilantes including Nishant Prabhudesai- panch, Ajay Lolienkar -former sarpanch of Loliem-Polem VP, Santan da Costa and Vishant Prabhu-local activist, who were keeping a close watch on the work along the NH66 at Mashem since Wednesday, finally stopped the work on Thursday.
Ajay Lolienkar said, “We saw that there was very little bitumen which is the binder for other aggregates being used, and if we had to allow this to continue, the road would have disintegrated in a month’s time. Unable to bear this, we stopped the contractor from continuing the work.”
On being informed about the poor quality work done by the contractor, deputy speaker Isidore Fernandes visited the site and ordered the contractor to scrape off the already carpeted area of the road on the southern side of the Mashem River and redo it as per the prescribed laid down specifications.
