KATHY PEREIRA
Even as the long-delayed hot-mixing of NH17 road at Chaudi in Canacona is going on, residents rue government inaction to repair many internal roads in the municipal area itself, which are lying in the most dilapidated condition for a very long time. This is despite the fact that the southern most taluka voted for the BJP, and is represented by Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar who is in office for the past three years.
Residents claim that the municipal internal roads and many village roads are in the worst possible condition for years together, with the government showing no initiative to repair them to maintain the basic infrastructure. A resident of the municipal area said, “Even an important internal road from Char-Rasta junction to Rajbhag on which several high-profile tourists are ferried to a starred hotel, is in tatters with motorists almost striving to drive on the randomly found tar carpet.”
The road is in such a bad condition that huge potholes and large tar-less stretches mark the entire drive. Similar is the condition of municipal’s internal road from Ponsulem-Patnem-Colomb-Ourem (Palolem).
Former deputy chairperson of Canacona Municipal Council (CMC) Dayanand Pagui blamed the government for remaining a mute spectator of the residents woes and called upon the departments concerned to act fast to minimize the locals’ acute difficulties.
“This government knows only to make tall promises but attending to the common man’s woes is hardly seen anywhere, except for a few selective pockets in the taluka,” Pagui said and accused the local MLA of selective execution of works.
Interestingly, as the monsoon approaches, the discord is not only felt in municipal areas, but many villagers finding that the internal roads have not been repaired, feel another monsoon will batter the already dilapidated roads to such an extent that it will play havoc with their vehicles.
CMC Deputy Chairperson Champa Ashok Pagui was also highly critical of several roads left unrepaired, especially the internal roads of Patnem. “Our road is full of potholes, but there is no sign of early repairs by the department,” Pagui said.
Similar views are being raised by Agonda Sarpanch Navneeta Naik Gaunkar, besides some panchas that village internal roads need immediate attention and repairs.
Amidst this barrage of criticism, on the bad state of most internal roads in Canacona taluka, Sports Minister and local MLA Tawadkar blamed the contractors for failing to take up the assigned/tendered work at the earliest due to which the roads were in bad shape.
When informed that including municipal’s internal roads, many roads in the taluka are in dilapidated and bad condition, Tawadkar said, in most areas, including municipal and panchayats like Agonda, contractors have already been allotted the work tenders, but many contractors using the technical clause of allowing them time for commencement of works within 90 and or 180 days period, tend to keep the allotted works pending.
“As this is accepted in the tender document, authorities at times become helpless to get the works done, but anyway we are hopeful that most internal roads in Canacona will get a facelift before the monsoons,” assured Tawadkar.
