PANJIM: The capital city of Panjim suffers as the Mayor and the Commissioner of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) are at loggerheads over road digging works carried out under the smart city project.
While the CCP Mayor had set a deadline of April 30 to halt the entire road digging works in the capital, under the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Ltd (IPSCDL) underground cabling work is carried out at various places within the city.
On Thursday, CCP Mayor Uday Madkaikar stopped the footpath digging work in front of Bal Bhavan, Campal and seized all equipment and material belonging to the agency carrying out the works.
Accusing the Commissioner of not being concerned about the city residents, Uday said “The supervisor has been transferred and the labourers, who working were in the wards, were withdrawn by the Commissioner. They are taking the people for granted and in the guise of Smart City project are holding the city for ransom. Since I did not allow the digging of the city, they have taken the Commissioner who does not take the Mayor or the Corporators into confidence.”
On Thursday evening, the Mayor along with other Corporators gheraoed the Commissioner in his chamber and demanded an explanation on the incidents during the day. The corporators stated that in an eventuality of flooding during monsoons or people suffering during the pre-monsoon showers, the CCP Commissioner shall be responsible.
“There is a lot of work to be done before the monsoon sets in and you are taking the labourers away. You have allowed the digging to carry-on under the Smart City. If something happens to anybody then we will not be responsible and you shall be held responsible for the problems”, an agitated Mayor addressed the Commissioner.
CCP Commissioner Shashank Tripathi, who is a member of the IPSCDL board as well as the District Coordination Committee, tried to pacify the CCP’s elected members by stating that the decision is taken by the respective committees and not him as an individual.
Responding to media questions, he said, “The District Coordination Committee has permitted the Smart City project agency to carry out their work till May 15, which also includes restoring the same to its original position. If the roads are not restored then appropriate action and penalty will be levied on the agency.”
However, it was brought to his notice that the public has been suffering due to non-compliance of procedures in carrying out the works by the executing agency for IPSCDL especially in Ribandar as the roads are narrow and with occurrence of light showers, the road conditions become worse.
