PONDA: The locals of Kerya, Khandepar and Usgao heaved a sigh of relief as the authorities on Monday finally allowed light motor vehicles to ply along landslide-hit Kerya road.
It may be recalled that the locals had been forced to undergo severe hardship for almost a week due to the road closure following the landslide.
The locals appeared to have been relieved from the harrowing experience as the authorities opened the road for vehicular traffic. The locals including office goers especially students were forced to travel an additional 18-km distance to reach their respective destinations.
A local Rocky Dias said, “We have been relieved from unpleasant experience due to the landslide, which resulted in the road closure and diversion. We were forced to travel an additional 18 kms to Ponda instead of 5 km journey and spend Rs 40-60 for the bus ticket on account of the road diversion. Our children studying in schools in Ponda and Farmagudi higher secondary schools and Colleges were reaching home late for almost a week. But today they reached in time. The road closure forced them to miss their tuitions in Ponda.”
Meanwhile, in order to prevent such landslides from occurring at the site in future, a lot of work has been pending with regards to the scientific cutting of the hill cutting. The officials say it may take a week to allow heavy vehicular traffic along National Highway as the stretch has turned muddy and slippery.
Meanwhile, the Goa Suraksha Manch Vice President Govind Dev and its office bearers at a press conference held in Ponda demanded that the government order a probe into hill cutting while widening the NH for putting the people’s lives at risk and for causing severe hardship to them for nearly a week.
According to Dev, as per rules, a NH cannot be closed for over 24 hours but here it was closed for almost a week.
The road has been kept open from 7 am to 9.30 am, between 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm and from 5 pm to 7.30 pm for the convenience of locals and students.
