Incessant rains on the night July 13 left villagers of the two tiny villages of Avedem and Paroda marooned as the bridge over river Kushavati and certain stretches of the main road from Sanguem to Margao at Paroda were submerged, paralysing the movement of both, humans as well as vehicular traffic.
This is an annual feature experienced and endured by the people of these two villages for the past several years. Paroda is a low lying area and continuous rains for even two or three hours results into the main road from Quepem (Karaly) to Guddi getting quickly submerged forcing traffic to take alternate routes via Chandor to reach Curchorem or Quepem town.
At times the bridge and the stretch of the main road from Guddi to Karally remain submerged for days together inconveniencing not only the people of Avedem and Paroda villages but also the traffic passing through the road from Sanguem and far off places to Margao.
Two years ago a local youth Hegde Dessai from Paroda got drowned when he was wading through the submerged road at Paroda. The village of Avedem which falls in Quepem taluka and the village of Paroda falling in the jurisdiction of Salcete are separated by the river Kushavati and the present bridge is the only concrete link connecting the two villages.
The Kushavati bridge over the river was built around 46 years ago at the initiative of the then Parish Priest of the parish of Paroda late Rev Fr João Pereira who realising the difficulties faced by the people of Avedem to reach the Church for mass and other services, went knocking to the doors of those in power and got the present bridge constructed.
The bridge since then has withstood the vagaries of monsoons with the swollen river washing away coconut and other huge trees that constantly hit the bridge.
The road from Karaly to Guddi Paroda and even further is very narrow which was built during the Portuguese era and no measures have been taken by successive governments neither to widen nor to raise the level of the road. At some places the road is so narrow with residential houses on either the side that it can be compared to a lane in the cities but in reality is a main route from Sanguem to Margao and vice versa.
Two years ago Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the flooded village and promised a new bridge within six months. But nothing since then has happened.
The people of Avedem-Paroda are still living on hope that the present government under Manohar Parrikar will look into the difficulties faced by these villagers and initiate steps to mitigate the situation.
