PONDA: The villagers of three panchayats namely Curti, Bandora, Kavlem and the residents of Ponda town say they are fed up with the perpetually dug-up state of their roads, which has put them through inconvenience and hardships for the past six years. Roads in the area have been dug up to lay a sewerage network, every year without fail, akin to an annual festival, say residents.
Former Bandora Sarpanch Rajesh Naik said the long-pending works are proving to be a major headache for road-users, and forcing locals to live and work in dusty, polluted conditions as well. to face lot of hardship. He said the works seem never-ending as they have not been planned properly, and the entire project smacks of negligence and lack of foresight.
“At Chirputem, for instance, four sewage chambers were dug up within a 10-metre stretch, and then filled up with mud again. The workers said this was done as some of them were unwanted. After work on a stretch is completed, the chambers are not covered properly. People are suffering due to this neglect. The condition of these roads makes them prone to accidents, and bikers are at most risk ,” said Naik, urging the PWD Minister to look into the matter and provide relief to the thousands of people affected by the issue.
The work of laying a sewage network around Ponda began in 2016 and was expected to be completed in 2018. The situation worsens during the monsoon, as locals have to contend with muddy, slippery roads with gaping holes in them.
Similarly, at Kapileshwari, Kavlem, the service road has been closed for the past three months for the digging of sewage chambers. Heedless motorists ply on the wrong side of the road at Farmagudi, causing accidents. A similar situation prevails at Curti and in Ponda town as well.
Even though the sewerage work is complete at Daag, Ponda, the roads have been left in a mangled, bumpy state and PWD officials say that the hotmixing of these roads will be done only after they obtain a ‘work
completion certificate’ from the Sewerage Department.
