Team Herald
MARGAO: Public Works Department Minister Sudin Dhavalikar while assuring the people of Chandor that he would realign the State Highway No 8 within three months, directed departmental officials to asphalt only the interior roads and Major District Road portion in the village while at the same time ensuring that potholes on all the roads in the village are attended to before the monsoons.
He visited Chandor today to appeal to the people to forget the nomenclature of the tender and let the roads in the village be asphalted as otherwise it would take another one year for the tender to be re-prepared.
He conceded the people’s fear over State Highway No. 8 and assured that he would get it re-aligned. “I had promised that a month back before the church and being a son of a priest of a temple, I shall honour my promise,” he said.
However, as people were apprehensive about letting the work be undertaken as asphalting of road on SH 8 as mentioned in the tender, Sudin finally asked the officials to drop the portion of the road coming under SH 8 and go ahead with the asphalting of the portion of Major District Road and internal road.
What this would amount to is dropping 1.75 kms of road from Cotta section while undertaking the rest of the works. He promised the villagers and also instructed the officials not to widen the road at any stretch while asphalting it.
Earlier local MLA Clafasio Dias at whose request the PWD minister came to the village, said he realized the problem of SH 8 only after becoming the MLA as earlier even he was under the impression that the state highway was passing through his village.
“I do not mind the SH 8 passing through my village of Paroda but I shall not allow even one compound wall in Chandor to be demolished,” he said asserting that the heritage houses and monument in the historic village have to be protected.
“If the National Highway No. 17 could be re-aligned why should SH 8 not be dropped,” he asked taking a dig at ex MLA Joaquim Alemao’s claim of having got the national highway re-aligned.
Sudin while recalling that the Town and Country Planning Department was to write to him to survey the SH 8 said he would follow up on the matter and get that expedited.
