Shoddy work by sewerage dept puts Margao citizens through various hardships

The fears of residents in and around Margao came true when the shoddy work by the sewerage department on roads was exposed with the onset of rains.

The sewerage department that has been digging various roads for the laying of the sewage line was asked to restore the road to its normal condition before the monsoons. However, with the heavy showers, the poor patch work applied to the roads was either washed off or parts of the roads had caved in. Worse, in several places, the chambers were damaged leading to spilling of sewage water onto the roads.

At Gogol, with so many potholes there has been a lot of inconvenience to commuters. “The condition of the Chinmaya mission road, near the new Westside showroom in Gogol is absolutely pathetic. God have mercy on us because the Government departments are not at all bothered. The last nail in the coffin is this vehicle which got stuck in the so called new sewage line on the main road and has paralysed the smooth flow of traffic,” said Vikram Pratap Singh.

The heavy downpour on 14th June created havoc on the roads of Arlem, especially in the morning when parents have to drop their children to school. Students who walk to school or use public transport and parents dropping the students faced tremendous hardship on the Arlem-Raia road as it was flooded. There were instances where two-wheeler riders had falls as the road was slippery and not entirely visible.

There was a similar situation at Aquem Baixo, Navelim with a large pothole formed in the middle of the road as the portion of the road was washed off.

However in this area, with the road caving in, students and parents were advised by locals to use an alternate stretch as the large ditch was not visible in the rains and could have been a risk to human life and property.

Navelim activist Siddesh Bhagat pointed out that several attempts to alert and inform the sewage department in the past fell on deaf ears and now the residents have to face the brunt.

At Madel, there was the issue of sewage water spilling onto the road causing a nuisance in the area. While the PWD has made promises to repair the old sewage pipelines in the area, locals complained that has slowly become a regular phenomenon every monsoons.

Several complaints to the sewage department to rectify the matter has seen no response with the contractors missing the deadline issued by the collectorate to have restored the roads and stopped digging before the rains set in.