PANJIM: Certain roads in Panjim, the State’s so called Smart City and its nearby areas in Taleigao and Santa Cruz paint such a picture as if Goa is ready for Chandrayaan and Rover on its crater-like potholes. The prevailing sorry state of affairs has revealed that the authorities are no longer interested in providing the basic requirement of motorable roads to its citizens.
The residents of Panjim, Taleigao and St Cruz are helpless as they are compelled to undergo severe hardship on account of bad roads, which at some places, have developed ‘craters’ in the form of deep potholes and massive cracks.
The residents fear that these bad road patches which pose danger to both motorists and pedestrians could lead to accidents. The incessant rains which lashed the State recently have turned the situation from bad to worse.
The roads have been dug from St Inez Junction to Madhuban Junction and again from PWD Office to Sheetal Restaurant in the same locality.
A worker engaged in road digging activity said that it will take at least six more months to get the work complete.
“Due to the recent heavy rainfall, we could not take up the work for the entire week. Then there was the Chaturthi. It is not just the sewerage work but we have to lay the pipes for gas and wires for the electricity,” he said.
The roads which have developed potholes are the ones near the Church in Taleigao, near the police outpost at St Cruz and the stretch from St Inez Junction to Goa Pharmacy College.
When asked, the Public Works Department (PWD) said that the roads have been dug at some places because of the work related to the sewerage lines.
Speaking to O Heraldo, Eduardo Pereira, Executive Engineer, PWD WD II (Roads), said, “Sewerage lines are being laid. Once that work is complete, connections will be given to houses. Once we get to know that the work is done then hot mixing will be taken up. If we take the work of hot mixing now, again the road digging will have to be carried out. Temporary soling is being done by the agency executing the sewerage work and wherever possible we are doing it with a jetpatcher machine.”
“At some places roads have been dug up to lay electricity lines or sewerage lines. Wherever possible we carried out road repair works before the monsoon. Once there is a clear cut idea that the work related sewerage lines is over, we will take up road work,” he said.
However, the Electricity Department denied that the roads have been dug due to work undertaken by it.
“No work has been undertaken by the department in the city. There may be some work done due to the Smart City Project,” an official said.
Sanjit Rodrigues, IAS, CEO of the Smart City Project, under which roads have been dug in the St Inez area, said that the work is being taken in stretches and that is the reason that the roads are being dug one after another.
However, he refused to divulge further details.
Reacting to the pathetic condition of the roads, social activist Cecille Rodrigues said, “Roads are laid but there is no maintenance work. Same is the situation in Taleigao. People are finding it very difficult to enter Taleigao and locals find it very difficult to move out of Taleigao. When I wrote a letter regarding road conditions in Taleigao, the sarpanch did not like it. It is the duty of the panchayat to provide motorable roads as we are paying taxes. We want safety but the government at the present is not interested. CCP is taking parking fees despite looking at the road conditions in the city. You come, die or your vehicles get damaged. Nobody cares. In Taleigao, the condition of all roads is very bad. The government does not care about road safety.”
Anil Kerkar, another social activist, said, “This government has been formed by taking MLAs of other parties. None of these MLAs are interested in solving the issue of bad roads. They have forgotten how the roads used to be 15-20 years ago. People should raise their voice over bad road condition as they are the ones who use the roads.''
Movement for Amity towards Roads in Goa (MARG) president Prashant Naik said, “Panjim is no more a Smart City. It is not safe for motorists. There is no improvement. We have been given dates after dates by different departments that the situation will improve but it has not, in any way.”
“I feel that some drastic measures need to be taken. Now that the rains are almost over, a deadline should be set that residents of Panjim and the State will be provided with motorable roads. This is the need of the hour. Otherwise it becomes very difficult and a nightmare for the two-wheeler riders. CCP’s priority should be to set a deadline that by this time good roads will be ready. This should not be like the dates given earlier. It has to be on top priority. It is a total failure on part of the CCP to deliver justice to the residents of Panjim. Actually the contractor and the officials involved have to be taken to task,” Naik demanded.
In April, then North Goa District Collector and CEO of the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited had admitted that works under the Smart City Mission in Panjim were being executed at a ‘slightly slow pace’ and practical difficulties were being encountered by the contractors while undertaking the works.
Irked by the slow progress in the work, Smart City Mission Projects, Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited and the Public Works Department (PWD) had issued five show cause notices to the contractors for delaying the works related to water supply project and Geographic Information System (GIS)-based master plan for the state capital.