Vasco: The scarcity of labourers from outside Goa has slowed down the Varunapuri to MPT flyover project, which was earlier, delayed due to the lockdown as well.
To address this, around 135 labourers were flown down.
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Incidentally, the project’s deadline is December 2021 but according to Gammon India Pvt Ltd officials who are supervising the work, it may get delayed by another eight months.
R. Prabhakaran, Administrative manager from Gammon India Pvt Ltd told Herald that so far around 81 per cent of the project has been completed in terms of concretisation.
Speaking about why they had to fly down labourers, he pointed out that although the COVID situation in Goa has improved, the direct express trains from West Bengal, Orissa has not yet started and that the majority of the manual work force which is utilised for the construction of this project comes from West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and other States.
When asked why the laborers are not ready to come to Goa via Delhi, Prabhakaran said that it would be a difficult task for the labourers to take the train from West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and come to Delhi and then come to Goa via second train; and that the same is not advisable given the COVID pandemic.
He added that most of the labourers are waiting for the direct express trains to start, following which the construction work will take place at ‘full speed’.
When asked about the funds, Prabhakaran explained that from the Rs 19 crore, which they were supposed to get from the government, they are yet to get the balance of Rs 17.8 crores.
