PANJIM: Congress has written to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant requesting him to dismantle and dispose of the foot overbridge at Miramar without wasting time by invoking urgency clause thereby giving relief to students, parents and general public.
In a letter written to the Chief Minister, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Vice President Sunil Kawthankar said, “I wish to bring to your notice that the metallic bridge over the Miramar-Dona Paula road at Miramar is totally rusted and poses a life threatening danger to students, their parents, vehicular traffic passing under the bridge as well as hundreds of tourists flocking the Miramar beach.”
“It is a very serious issue and god forbid if the bridge collapses, it can lead to a severe disaster. By delaying the removal of the bridge, you are playing with the lives of innocent children, their parents and general public,” Kawathankar said.
He pointed out that there have been several instances where little or no urgency is seen and still the PWD invokes urgency clause of CPWD manual and issues work order by nomination and later on get ex post facto approvals.
The Goa College of Engineering (GEC), Farmagudi, had last month recommended to the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) to dismantle the Miramar foot over bridge saying it is better to dismantle and dispose it as it is not in use.
In their recommendations, GEC professors Dr K G Guptha and Dr P P Savoikar has said, “As is reported in the letters received from Sharada Mandir School and several other mentions cited during the inspection the foot over bridge is not used for 10-12 years, thus, it is better to dismantle and dispose.”
