MARGAO: With the authorities turning a blind eye to the extensive damage to the Arlem-Raia road, agitated Raia villagers on Saturday took to the streets.
Traffic on the busy road was thrown out of gear for quite some time before the authorities rushed to the site to assure the agitated residents they would start the repair work from Sunday.
The villagers hit the streets after their week-long deadline to repair the road went abegging. They demanded that the road repair work should start immediately in view of the village feast scheduled on August 5. As the villagers protested against the inordinate delay by the authorities and no sign of the District Collector Venancio Furtado at the site, Deputy Collector Umakant Kakankar and the police rushed to the spot to pacify frayed tempers. The Deputy Collector later told the media work would start from Sunday.
Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco warned that the villagers will take to the streets again if the promise is not fulfilled. “The authorities have been taking the people of Raia and motorists for granted. Time has now come for the people to act. Let the authorities deploy the Rapid Action Force, we will not be cowed down”, he said.
Outgoing Raia Sarpanch Xavier Fernandes told the Deputy Collector that the authorities had failed to reign in on the JICA officials to repair the road on a regular basis. “There’s a clear-cut mandate for JICA to maintain the road for two years, but this condition was violated with impunity and the authorities are looking the other way”, Xavier said.
Incidentally, Margao traffic PI Prabodh Shirwaikar told the media the police had submitted a report on the pathetic condition of the road.
