basuri desai
If Panjim resembles bombed out Beirut or earthquake struck Nepal, let its residents be assured that Beirut and Kathmandu will recover much before Panjim does. The latest to get hit by the CCP bomb fired either by the GSIDC or PWD is the Caranzalem – St Inez road, the parallel artery, after the main Dona Paula Miramar thoroughfare has been dug and done to death for over a year.
And this bout of digging is due to the need of one building society which needs the storm water drain to be connected to the building.
The digging of the road to connect the storm water drain of ‘Gera Astoria’, a residential complex in Caranzalem to the municipal drain has been going on for the last three days and causes a huge inconvenience to traffic as well as the locals of the area. The contractor appointed by the CCP said that it will take three more days to complete. He, however, has a time limit to complete the work and has to finish the task by May 30th2015.
Gera Astoria, a residential project by Gera Development Pvt. Ltd. was not connected with the main storm water drain. The builder has, so far, released the water into fields behind the building. Farmers from Taleigao have been objecting to this for the past two years.
According to the commissioner of the CCP, the storm water drain of the residential complex was supposed to be connected a year ago but due to strong opposition from the local ward members, it was held back. Later, the residents of Gera Astoria approached a Bench of Bombay High Court in Goa seeking a solution since the residents suffered due to heavy flooding in the basement parking during the monsoons.
The HC has passed an order on May 8, 2015 to the CCP to carry out the construction of the drain at the earliest and at the cost of the builder. Hence, a deadline of May 30, 2015 has been set. However, the CCP on May 4, 2015 has given permission to Gera Development Pvt. Ltd. to dig the road to connect the storm water drain to the main municipal drain across the road at Caranzalem.
Presently, there is heavy digging going on in front of the apartment complex and half of the road has been dug up in the last three days. The entire vehicular traffic has only three meters access at that particular point which causes heavy traffic jams on the only road which connects Dona Paula. There are no traffic cops posted at the spot.
There is only one police constable, while three private security guards have been appointed by the builder to divert traffic smoothly.
The entire stretch, right from HDFC bank till Corporation bank is in a mess. Buses, tourist taxis and heavy vehicles including tankers and good carriers passing through this stretch face a lot of hardship to cross the junction.
Dwarka Rao, representing Gera Development Pvt. Ltd. has said that they are trying to complete the work as soon as possible. “It is very difficult to dig this particular road since other service lines pass through the same place. We have to make sure we do not damage the existing lines while completing our work,” Rao told Herald.
Unfortunately the CCP is not in possession of the blueprint of the underground service line which could have helped to speed up the work.
“I do not understand how the traffic police and the CCP has given a clear signal to the court if any, since the court has issued orders. Now the whole difficulty is that the traffic plying on the six metre asphalt road is now made to pass on 3 metres of road on account of digging work and there is no guarantee when this will be completed,” Stephen Dias, a local resident said.
All the telephone and water lines to Dona Paula will be paralysed if due care is not taken while digging the road, Kumar, the contractor noted.
N Anand, a tourist taxi driver said, “The tourists visiting Dona Paula jetty have it the worst. The car would initially get caught up in the jam for about 15-20 minutes, but now, a distance of five minutes takes a minimum of half an hour to reach.”
Suresh Nair, a resident said, “The concretization of the main road has taken more than a year now and the entire traffic is diverted on to this route. But now, they have begun to dig up this road as well. This causes a lot of problems for locals of the area. There is complete mismanagement on the part of the officials.”
