PANJIM: Light rainfall in the past 24 hours led to accumulation of water at few places in the State’s capital city on Saturday. Rain water was seen accumulating near Miramar Circle and a tree came crashing down at Azad Maidan in Panjim, fortunately nobody was hurt in the incident.
Because of the rain, roads in the St Inez area have become slippery due to the mud accumulated on it, particularly the one leading from Caculo Mall junction to Tonca. The mud on roads is basically from the excavated pits by the contractor executing the work of constructing concrete roads and laying of new sewer lines under the Smart City Mission.
According to the India Meteorological Department-Goa the monsoon is expected to hit the state in a couple of days. Meanwhile, a high wave alert has been issued by the authorities concerned for the coast of Goa from Kolamb to Panjim (Malim) from June 9 to 11.
People fear that with the arrival of monsoon compounded with the high waves along the Panjim shores will make the situation worse in Smart City.
“Flooding in Panjim is increasing with each passing year. Buildings are built by occupying spaces of storm water drains and gutters. Panjim is situated on the Mandovi River bank, if there is heavy rain during the high tide even for five minutes or so then there will be major flooding because water doesn’t recede easily. The present situation is a ‘mess city’ rather than the Smart City; flooding is imminent this monsoon,” Adv Rui Ferreira, a Panjim resident said.
Rohit Patil, a resident of Miramar said, “Monsoon is on its way…high wave alert has also been sounded for Goa. Let’s hope and pray that Panjim doesn’t sink when it rains heavily.”
Puja Naik who works at the office of a multi-national company in the city said that in the monsoon ‘shoddy’ work executed under the Smart City Mission will stand ‘exposed’.
