PONDA: Heavy showers caused a landslide nearAmigos Junction at Curti-Khandepar along the national highway, raising concerns among the locals, who feared that the entire hill, which is vertically cut, could collapse any moment.
The landslide prompted the traffic police to use barricade tapes at the hill cutting site to alert commuters. The hill was cut recently for the four-lane widening of the Curti-Bethora –Borim road on Belgaum- Margao Highway.
O Heraldo in its recent report had highlighted a possible threat of landslides occurring at the site.
Following the landslide, the Ponda Police, traffic cell, sarpanch Harish Naik and NH officials inspected the site.
The locals drew the attention of the authorities to ensure safety of commuters and demanded measures to protect the hill.
They fear that the entire hill, which is vertically cut, could collapse during heavy rains.
Sandeep Parkar, a Khandepar resident, said, “The trees atop the hill are also likely to fall if it rains heavily. The authorities did not apply their mind before cutting the hill. Due to the debris, the road is likely to turn slippery following heavy rains. They locals said the debris needs to be cleared immediately as during heavy rain it flows into the underpass where water gets accumulated due to lack of gutters.
They demanded a proper gutter system at the underpass and called for the immediate restoration of roads which have been dug for laying underground power cables.
It may be recalled that a few years ago there was a major landslide at Kerya Khandepar, which compelled the authorities to divert traffic on national highway through various internal roads for around a fortnight. It may be recalled that most hills in Khandepar have been cut due to four laning of the NH.
Meanwhile, the bad condition of the underpass at the junction poses a grave threat to motorists.
Some vehicles got stuck in the muck. The locals have blamed the contractor for failing to restore the road to its original state after laying power cables.
