Calangute: Traffic on the busy Baga road at Sauntavaddo in Calangute was thrown out of gear after it caved in on Saturday morning near the Tito’s lane junction. The road sank while a loaded night soil tanker was passing over it, locals said.
According to locals, the Baga road has been sinking repeatedly because of shoddy work on the sewerage pipeline which connects to the sewerage treatment plant which has recently started functioning.
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“This is usual monsoon story of Calangute-Baga road after the JICA sewerage pipeline project,” Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) president Premanand Divkar said, pointing out that sinking of the busy Baga road has become a regular problem ever since it was dug up to lay the sewerage pipeline network some years ago.
“It’s high time that the government looks into the matter seriously to find out the right solution before they start the sewage treatment plant operations in full swing or else people within the vicinity will have to close their businesses and leave their houses in case the sewerage chambers burst,” Divkar said.
Calangute panchayat member Saluzinho Fernandes, who is the Sauntavaddo ward member, said it’s the responsibility of the JICA contractor and PWD to repair the road.
Shack owner John Lobo, president of the All-Goa Tourism Stakeholders Association, said the contractor involved should be penalised. “The workmanship of any government tendered jobs is pathetic. The contractor should be severely penalised/imprisoned and should be forced to disclose all the people involved in taking bribes. Everyone wants a cut from the cake; what’s left for the contractor are only the crumbs. Our courts should take suo motu cognisance of incidents like this. Only then can India progress,” he said.
