THURSDAY, MAY 09, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The High Court has refused the attempt by the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) to extend timeline up to June 2024 to complete the ongoing works under Smart City Mission.
Referring to the report submitted by the IPSCDL had shown the timeline for completion of works as June 2024, the division bench comprising Justice Mahesh S Sonak and Justice Valmiki SA Menezes in its order pointed out that though the timeline shown is June, the State government had issued directions that all the ongoing Smart City works will be completed by May 31 this year and it has to be complied.
Advocate Devidas Pangam said, ''All the roads will be made functional by May 31 this year. We will provide information regarding steps taken for traffic management and pollution control measures in the next hearing. We will also file a compliance report. We informed the court that the issues will be reduced once the roads become operational. Slowly roads will open up phase-wise and pressure on traffic and the problem of pollution will get reduced. The Court has not passed any order yet. ''
Adv Abhijit Gosavi, “On behalf of the petitioners we argued on three points i.e. pollution measures in which we have pointed out 5-6 locations where monitoring should be done, traffic management and road safety."
Advocate Shivan Desai, who is also presenting three other petitioners, said, “We highlighted broadly four issues -- dust pollution, road maps and timelines that need to be provided to the court traffic management and public safety and public awareness."
Advocate Desai stated that people need to know where and when roads will be closed and where there will be one-way.
The next hearing has now been fixed on April 16.
Choking fact: Panjim crossed bad air limits for two days in March
PANJIM: A report submitted by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) in the Bombay High Court at Goa shows that ambient air quality parameters had exceeded at the areas of Smart City works in Panjim for two consecutive days.
The Court has asked the GSPCB to continue ambient air quality monitoring in the city.
The GSPCB report states that 24 hourly averages of PM10 had exceeded the prescribed limits on March 30 and March 31 at Caculo Mall and all three days near a five-star facility in St Inez. Also the air quality index at both the stations is predominantly moderate.
As per the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), whenever and wherever monitoring results on two consecutive days of monitoring exceed the limits specified above for the respective category, it shall be considered adequate reason to institute regular continuous monitoring and further investigation.
The GSPCB has stated that it is mandatory that the concerned agencies/contractor deploy the dust extraction machine/systems during the completion of the remaining works and future developments works to avoid re-suspension of road dust.
The GSPCB has further recommended that the IPSCDL be directed to install approved technology real-time monitoring systems to monitor the ambient air quality in at least three locations in the capital city.
