A car reportedly fell into an open sewage chamber along the Fr. Jose Vaz road in Vasco which was dug up to lay the sewage pipeline (Herald May 18). Digging of roads are probably unavoidable as they (the roads) need to be dug to lay sewage pipelines or underground cables or any such activities.
Developmental work is essential, but what also needs to be taken into consideration while digging the roads is the timing of the digging activity and the time required to complete the work. Such work which restricts the movement of the general public needs to be planned well in advance. It is seen that many a times the roads are dug even when the South West monsoon is a few days away. This takes place all across the state. Building of new roads also needs to be planned so that the general public is not put to inconvenience. The work on the new roads at Old Goa and along the Kadamba plateau is not complete. It is most unlikely that the roads will be ready before the onset of the monsoon. This is causing a lot of inconvenience to the road users.
When the rains come pouring down there will be a lot of slush in this area which will result in slippery conditions on the other roads. Proper planning is necessary when such long roads are being built so that they can be carried out during the dry months in order to have the work completed before the onset of the monsoon. There needs to be some guidelines in place for road-digging activities. Proper road signs should be put up whenever the roads are dug.
During the night as a result of the darkness the vehicular driver may not be aware of the roads that have been dug. These can lead to accidents. Hence red lights should be put up wherever the roads have been dug in order to caution the road-users as well as the pedestrians. All road-digging activities should come to a halt a fortnight before the schedule commencement of the monsoon season. All roads which have been dug up earlier need to be filled in and repaired at least two weeks before the monsoon season.
The dug up trenches cannot be left open when it starts to rain as it will prove dangerous for road-users and pedestrians alike. The authorities concerned have several dry months in a calendar year when such road-digging can be carried out. Any developmental activity cannot be carried out by putting the lives of the citizens at risk.
