Bad roads have become the new conversation starter in Goa as every ward, village,
city and town has its own share of bad roads, plagued by potholes. From the
beginning of the monsoons, citizens have been pleading for action and the
lashing monsoons did the roads no favours. Goans are not just risking their
backs anymore but also their lives.
From June 2018 to April 2019, Goa has
recorded 761 accidents, out of which, 53 were grievous and 59 people have lost
their lives. Goa Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Deepak Pauskar assured the
State Assembly in July that all the potholes on roads in the state will be
filled before Ganesh Chaturthi. In September, an all Goa helpline 7796667373
for reporting potholes across the state was launched, where the public had to
forward a photograph along with Google location of any potholes existing on any
roads other than National highways in the state of Goa.
Dancer
and actor Cecille Rodrigues recently released her video song, ‘Rosto’, which
was an instant social media hit, while Billytoons Goa( along with our very own
Idhar Udhar) know how to tickle the funny bone with his witty cartoons, this
time on potholes. In Canacona, a group of locals visited the Public Works
Department (PWD) office and protested against the bad roads and potholes by
taking the PWD engineer and contractor in the ambulance to experience how it
feels to go through such rough roads. The contractor was made to lie down on
the stretcher while the engineer sat by his side. Goans are now at the end of
their tether with regard to the tardiness in road work.
Goan commuters share
their experience of travelling on these pothole-ridden roads in Goa:
It’s a real tragedy that there are no
proper roads left for repairs anymore. We don’t want repairs; we need
replacement of entire stretches of roads. I feel repairs are temporary
solutions that the government implements. Earlier, it was a common sighting to
see a pothole on a good road which would be covered shoddily but now it has
become exactly the opposite. There are more potholes and no roads left to ride
or drive on. I hope we get good services for what we pay for.
YASH KARPE, Sanquelim
I think that imported tar to repair the
roads is a joke. India is a country capable of producing proper tar and
building lasting roads. It’s the corruption in the system that leads to
contractors doing a shoddy job with the roads. They have to bribe to get
contracts and build roads that aren’t worthy of lasting a few months so that
another tender can be passed again, just for some politician to make some more
money. From suspensions getting ruined to increase in travel time to
accidents… and no one is accountable. What amuses me is the lack of will and
no way forward to do anything about it. The patch up job like the one on the
Verna slope towards Nuvem is so shoddy that we have cars driving like a video
game, fatal accidents waiting to happen.
JOED ALMEIDA, Colva
Heavy penalties should be officially
incorporated in the work orders / policy for constructions of roads and in
affidavits signed by the contractor. These penalties should be time bound,
repair warranty, per day fines, financial compensation to commuters for
physical and vehicle damages including claims for lives lost. Besides these,
the license of a habitual offending contractor including his company should be
cancelled and blacklisted. All these fines and penalties should be extracted
from the contractors and not from government treasury. I think this will bring
seriousness in quality of work, accountability, less chances of commissions being
collected by government officials and others involved and above all good safe
roads to citizens who deserve what they are paying for. It is the
constitutional right for a citizen.
ROSHAN MATHIAS, Candolim
Goan roads are filled with potholes in not
just few locations but everywhere in the state. Travelling on these roads is
very risky, especially during the monsoon showers. This season has been even
more terrible as it has been raining continuously and the roads have been at
their worst. With rain-filled potholes you cannot estimate the depth of the
holes and end up in holes that injury the back. These potholes are injurious to
humans and damage the vehicles as well. I recently had to do the suspension
work for my car due to these bad roads.
JACENT MASCARENHAS, Candolim
