CANACONA: Both the commuters and pedestrians had a sigh of and relief as the work to remove the uneven patches on the 7.4 kms Manohar Parrikar sea-side link road inaugurated 13 months ago has been undertaken.
The Herald, a couple of times had reported that the 7.4 kms four-lane, state-of-the-art road, had developed depressions at atleast four places which in turn were jeopardising the safety of the commuters.
Taking cognisance of the Herald reports, the administration employed men and machinery recently and were seen levelling the depressions with a hot-mix of bitumen and other aggregates.
Speaking to Herald, Canacona MLA and Deputy Speaker Isidore Fernandes a few days ago had said that he has taken note of the Citizen Herald’s story and had sent photo copies of it with a covering letter to the Chief Minister, PWD Minister, Principal Chief Engineer and was expecting a quick action as the road has indeed sunk at the joints of the minor over bridges. And as per my expectations the contractor has carried out the levelling work.
The 7.4 kms Manohar Parrikar sea-side link has been a boon for the long distance commuters and locals as the new road linking Char Rasta to Mashem has reduced the distance by 10 kms and time by 30 minutes as the old road was passing through Poinguinim, which was too narrow and had bottlenecks at Bhatpal and Poinguinim.
“The new road has also been a major factor as it has decreased the number of accidents which otherwise used to witness accidents every other day,” the locals said with a sigh of relief.
Executive Engineer Laxmikant Naik informed Herald that the levelling work which was held up due to various reasons was undertaken recently by the contractor of the bypass road as he is responsible for the upkeep of the road stretch for four years after it was inaugurated in November last year.
“Now with the road becoming smooth, the motorists will surely get tempted to overshoot the prescribed speed limit of 80 kph on this stretch and this could be dangerous and fatal as this road is not secured with fence and the cattle and other animals stray on this road,” say the locals.
