Aftab Shaikh
The early monsoon showers have already hit the state of Goa and the reckless digging of roads which started before the onset of the monsoons has crossed its deadline as repair work continues. Though the digging at 18 June road and Dr. Atmaram Borkar road in the capital city has been completed, they still lack the final touch, forcing a bumpy ride for travellers. Meanwhile, Dr. Pandurang Pissurlekar Road near the CCP office is another example for a freshly dug up road in the city. The digging and repair work on the Miramar –Dona Paula stretch however, doesn’t seem to be coming to an end any time soon.
Roads in Panjim are being dug up by Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP), PWD, BSNL and GSIDC simultaneously. The roads within the city i.e 18th June road, Dr. Atmaram Borkar road and Dr. Pandurang Pissurlekar Road, etc was dug by the CCP for desilting the Portuguese era storm drains which were not touched since post- Liberation of Goa.
Though the work has been completed in some roads, they have been left need repairs, thus creating hardship for people using them, especially during heavy rainfall.
Speaking to Herald earlier, Mayor Shubham Chodankar had said, “CCP has asked the PWD to complete the work by the end of the month (May end) while the storm drain work would be ready before the monsoon.” Reality however, seems to be in complete contrast to the Mayor’s words. The deadline has long gone but storm drain work is still underway. With the pre-monsoon showers hitting the city, workers are struggling to finish the work on time.
CCP Commissioner, Sanjit Rodrigues told Herald that the work will be completed in the next two days. He said, “All departments, whoever has undertaken the digging has completed their work. Only some parts (in front of the CCP office and Junta House) are left. It will be completed in the next two days.” When asked about the fresh digging in the city he said, “We have had to carry out more digging as the sewage pipeline was found to be leaking.”
As the monsoons approach and schools resume their daily routine, people will be forced to go through a lot of hardship as the Miramar to Dona Paula sewage and road widening work seems to be progressing at a snail’s pace. With this speed of work, it looks impossible for the GSIDC to make the road functional before Goa faces the wrath of the monsoons. This work began in January 2014, more than a year back.
Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (GSIDC) had earlier assured to complete the Miramar-Dona Paula work by April 2015. This date has now however, been pushed back to December 2015.
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Caranzalem Drain belongs to whom…?
On 4th May 2015, in a meeting held by North Goa District Magistrate Nila Mohanan, Additional District Magistrate Swapnil Naik, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Traffic cell D.G.P Angle along with other officials from CCP, permission was granted to dig Caranzalem road for the connection of a storm drain of Gera Astoria apartments to the CCP drain next to the road.
However there seems to be a major misrepresentation of the CCP drain in the entire meeting. As per the documents, the drain which is claimed to be the CCP drain belongs to Marine Castle owned by Models Construction Pvt. Ltd. Meanwhile, the owner of Marine Castle has now moved to High Court challenging the approval given by the District Magistrate and Corporation. Before moving to the High Court, the owner also filed a complaint to the CCP and District Magistrate for illegal excavation.
Though they permitted the digging of the road and connection of the private drain to the CCP drain; there is no drain owned by corporation in the area.
To make matters worse, the applicant – Gera Astoria, has been forwarding a number of applications to the CCP and District Magistrate seeking permission to connect the storm water drain of their multi-storey apartment complex to the CCP drain. Surprisingly none of these government authorities have inspected the drain and finally ended up approving permission.
