Goa is seeing a refurbishment of its capital, Panaji (or Panjim) under the Smart City programme. Work has been going on for more than 2 years now with roads dug up randomly with no care for flow of traffic for people to get around the city ostensibly to lay new sewerage lines and beautify the city with pavements, etc.
With shoddy work roads have been caving in leading to trucks related to the work and water tankers getting stuck. And this has been happening around the city at different locations and at different times. Citizens have been complaining and matters have been raised with the Municipality, local MLA and the government up to the level of the CM.
The buck of accountability has been passed around and at various times the contractors have been blamed or the consultants or the Smart City CEO. The contractors have been asked for commitments about finishing the work which as expected with no seriousness on their part they have been failing at each time. That with the onset of the monsoon, Panjim would be seriously affected was anticipated and the father-son duo, the son is the City Mayor and father is the City MLA, was apprised who went around for inspections and assured citizens that by May end the work would (by and large) be over.
With the deadline not met, no heads rolled, contractors were not terminated or consultants sacked. The citizens of Panaji or Panjim, by this action of work completed in time and before the monsoon, would have been more comfortable and the life of the innocent girl could have been possibly saved.
Meanwhile, the High Court got seized of the matter and did their own inspection to assess work completion and dust pollution and suggested measures and asked all concerned to finish the work so that the citizens of Panjim are not inconvenienced. Nothing happened and despite the monsoon being delayed by about 10 days and the deluge that followed in June and until now has inundated the city.
Life, if not at a standstill, has been severely affected. And no one is to be seen. No contractors, no consultants, no Smart City CEO, no Mayor, no MLA, no CM. The Goa Assembly is in session and no mention about the plight of Panjim was taken up until last week, 2 old trees fell down right in the middle of the town square, adjacent to the Municipal Garden and right in front of the main church. One tree crushed a car with luckily the occupants getting off unscathed and the second crushed a 19-year-old girl walking on the road who died.
All she got was a mention by the CM in the Assembly (a small footnote in this theatre) and an assurance that all dangerous trees in Panjim will be surveyed and action taken. Mind you this was only for Panjim and not for Goa though trees have been falling across the State in other towns as also in the rural areas.
Why was the work in (the so-called Smart City) not taken up post haste to complete before the monsoon and why were trees not inspected before hand, to anticipate collapses despite an old tree falling and which was later transplanted early last month?
