PONDA: Having lost patience at the slow pace of clearing the landslide debris at Kerya-Khandepar, the locals took to the streets on Sunday demanding reopening of the national highway from July 2 for the students, light vehicles and minibuses. The villagers threatened to hold mrocha and an agitation, if the highway is not reopened on Monday.
The villagers also submitted a timetable for road opening and closure to PWD Engineer Dattaprasad Kamath, who agreed to follow the timetable.
According to the timetable, the road be kept open from 7 am to 9.30 am, from 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm and from 5 pm to 7.30 pm. Kamath agreed to the suggestions of locals and accordingly asked the traffic and Ponda Police to make arrangements for school and passenger minibuses to proceed towards Ponda from Kerya and vice versa from July 2.
Angry at the uncertainty as to when the work on hill levelling at the landslide spot will be completed, Kerya Khandepar villagers warned that they would hold an agitation if the hill cutting work is delayed further. They demanded that instead of using JCB machines, heavy machinery used in mining be hired to clear the landslide debris.
The villagers complained that since the landslide at Kerya and the subsequent road closure, they have been suffering immense hardship; the most affected are the students studying in schools at Ponda.
Meanwhile, the Kerya Khandepar and Usgao villagers who gathered at the Kerya landslide spot on Sunday heavily criticised the National Highway authorities for cutting the hill vertically that resulted in a huge landslide.
Ponda MLA Ravi Naik also visited the Kerya landslide spot and discussed with PWD Engineer Dattaprasad Kamath about reopening of the road for light vehicles.
Kamath assured to address the issue of school students and local passengers by allowing school buses by stopping the work temporarily at the landslide spot.
