The making of a Smart City out of Panjim has so far put life out of gear for not just the residents of the capital but all those who visit the city, including tourists. It wouldn’t be wrong to use the anecdote that the city has become a war zone with almost every road dug up across Panjim.
Monday registered another failure in the ongoing works as a truck laden with laterite stones landed in a pit where sewerage work was being carried out at St Inez. Luckily the truck driver escaped unhurt, however, four labourers were injured in the accident.
But what is most shocking in the incident is that the police have registered a case against the truck driver for negligence and all those who are responsible for carrying out the work have not been made liable for the failure in planning. The truck driver has claimed that before the incident occurred, he has made at least about 25 trips on the same murky road since the works began.
One of the first pieces of information that exposed the contractor’s failure is that despite the precondition of a traffic cop to manage the traffic flow – as one side of the road was kept open for locals to traverse, no policeman was placed on duty at the site.
The incident raises very serious questions about the procedures being followed and substantiates the allegations of ‘substandard work’ and ‘corruption’ in the work being carried out across Panjim.
This is not the first incident that has exposed the failure of the government to ensure the safety of the citizens as well as the workforce working at the sites where road digging is carried out for developmental activity.
Last year, on December 17, a youth from West Bengal who was on a visit to his sister living at Bandora in Ponda died after coming in contact with a live wire near the construction site of the inspection chamber of sewer lines in the town. Earlier in the year, on May 13, a labourer lost his life after the pump used for dewatering the sewer inspection chamber malfunctioned and the labourer fell into the manhole filled with sewage water.
The incident at Guirim, which occurred on July 23 last year, wherein the newly constructed service road near Hotel Green Park had caved in on a rainy day, had exposed the ill-planning and substandard works. Goa witnessed several accidents across the length and breadth of the State due to the negligence of the agencies concerned, due to which precious lives have been lost while road widening and construction of the national highway is being carried out.
However, in all these incidents no official or person in authority is held responsible for the lapses, but it’s always a labourer or a person at the bottom of the hierarchical pyramid who is made a scapegoat, and who then has to face the music.
The Indian Roads Congress (IRC), an Apex Body of Highway Engineers in the country set up by the Union Government, which works in close collaboration with Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), has laid down the Guidelines on Safety in Road Construction Zones. The guidelines, known as IRC:SP:55, provide appropriate guidance and examples of best practice to improve the safety for all those who could be affected in work zones.
Despite all the necessary guidelines in place, none of the projects carried out by the State agencies or contracting companies on behalf of the national agencies adhere to the norms, putting the lives of the citizens in danger.
Monday’s incident in Panjim should be a warning bell to the authorities concerned, and also to the State government, that there is an urgent need to check the preparedness of the contractors carrying out the works, vis-à-vis safety standards. The government should order a magisterial inquiry into accidents that have occurred over the past year and take stern action against those responsibility.
