PANJIM: Congress on Tuesday gheraoed the PWD Chief Engineer Umesh Kulkarni demanding solutions to the traffic congestion between Agassaim and Cortalim due to the bad condition of roads.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) members alongwith its frontal organisation organizations including Mahila Congress, Youth Congress, NSUI and Seva Dal demanding immediate repair of the service roads constructed to divert the traffic to facilitate the ongoing work of the new Zuari Bridge. In a sarcastic felicitation, the agitating group presented the Chief Engineer with a shawl, a bouquet of flowers and a packet of road construction material to draw his attention to the problems faced by thousands of commuters between Panjim and Margao and Vasco and those travelling to the Airport.
In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Engineer, Youth Congress President Varad Mardolkar stated, “The people of Goa from all walks of life, more particularly the students, office goers, industrial workers, tourists and all commuters who travel regularly from Panjim to Margao, Verna Industrial Estate and Vasco and vice versa, have been suffering for the last several months due to ongoing work of Zuari Bridge and flyovers at Agassaim and Verna via Cortalim junction.”
The agitators demanded action from the authorities within a week and threatened to take to the streets if the problems were not resolved.
After the meeting with PWD official, GPCC Spokesperson Amarnath Panjikar informed that the Chief Engineer has assured to hold a joint inspection along with Congress office bearers and all the officials, the contractor, engineers and local representatives within the next two days.
“He has also assured to repair all the highway expansion service roads and signages, signboards, reflection tape and other safety measures will be in place in next fifteen days. The Chief Engineer has said that the contractor will be issued show cause notice for not following the guidelines of National Road Safety Council and State Road Safety Council,” Amarnath added.
