Motorists in the port town of Vasco have been facing serious hardships for the last several months due to gaps in trenches on the main road.
According to information Reliance Gio carried out micro trenching work from Cortalim to Chicalim and then from Chicalim to St Andrew’s Church junction in Vasco to lay 4G cables. After completing the work, the company filled the trench with cement, however, the stretch from Chicalim junction to St Andrew’s Church junction developed artificial pot holes after the refill making it hollow in many places. As a result, motorists riding on this road motorist have been known to lose their balance and some have had mishaps.
“Last Sunday I fell with my scooter near Goa Shipyard as I didn’t see the hollow portion on the road. I sustained injuries and had to face a loss due to damage to the scooter. To my good luck there was no vehicle behind me otherwise I would not have been alive today,” said Krishnanath Sawant, a resident of New Vaddem-Vasco.
Like Sawant, many other motorists from the port town have similar complaints and the road is getting known as a killer road of Vasco due to this unlevel micro trench.
It is not that the concerned officials of Vasco are not aware of the situation and the threat to motorists, but requests to them have yielded no results.
“It is true that motorists coming to Vasco using NH 17 A have a tough time due to the hollow portion on the road which was dug up to facilitate the 4G cable line. I have already sent letters to the concerned agency to fill the gap on priority. I will again write to them asking to attend the same,” Vaosc Traffic Cell PI Sudesh Narvekar told Herald, confirming that the unlevelled micro trench has become a traffic nuisance in the port town.
PWD national highway division officials confirm that they too have raised serious concerns over the trench and had asked the agency on three occasions to attend to it, but the agency carried out the refill work just once. The second refill work which would level the road is yet pending. “We had received complaints and had inspected the affected area of road where the thin portion on the left side of the road has become uneven forcing motorists to face danger. This is because the cement refill on the trench got settled and gaps have developed on the road. We feel that the bonding between cement and tar on the road is not taking place and there is need of tarring the full stretch to avoid accidents,” said PWD official Harish Tanavde.
According to data with the police, from January this year till date over 50 accidents have taken place in this 3.5 Km stretch of road from Chicalim to MPT and four people have lost their lives but the authorities are yet to act. Residents complain that the authorities are only keeping themselves busy in shooting off letters for repairs but are not making serious efforts to ensure that such a hazard on the road should be removed.
Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida acknowledged the existence of the problem and assured to take action on priority and if required file an FIR against the concerned party if repairs are not carried out in 15 days time. “I also ride bikes and have faced a similar situation while commuting on this stretch of road. Why should people be put to inconvenience? This is serious and I have already instructed the concerned PWD officials to take up the issue and if the situation hasn’t improved within 15 days I will file a complaint against the concerned agency,” Almeida told Herald.
Talking tough, new MMC Chairperson Deepak Naik said, “We will take up this issue in the first council meeting to be held on Thursday and will adopt a resolution to ensure that all such works undertaken under MMC jurisdiction should compulsorily take our permission before starting up the work,” he told Herald.The PR firm handling media communication on behalf the agency promised to get back on the issue, but till the time of going to the press there was no comment made.
