PANJIM: The officials of the Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) have observed that Ribandar roads does not have trenches that are dangerously open or debris dumped along the road sides causing danger to the human lives as alleged in a complaint filed before it.
In its inspection, the team led GHRC Secretary Margaret Fernandes and Police Inspector Manoj Mardolkar however noticed exposed cables around the work site, but, these were not pointed out in the complaint.
“Mostly the entre inspected points complainant shown (showed) us the exposed cables along with side of the road, which are posing danger to the vehicles and pedestrians moving on the road, which he had not mentioned in his complaint” a comprehensive report submitted to the Commission acting chairman A D Salkar states.
Herald has accessed the report prepared by PI Mardolkar, which mentioned that General Manager, IPSCDL, Salim Veljee has conceded that the cables belongs to the agency. “…needs to be underground by digging deep tunnel and that during monsoon season there is ban on the digging of roads imposed by the Collector. The said work is therefore incomplete,” the report mentioned quoting Veljee.
The Secretary, in her supplementary report, has emphasised on the continuous work leading to increase in the height of the road, cement storm water drains not allowing water to be absorbed into the ground, etc. “Laying new underground infrastructure can be challenging, costly and time consuming when there are no maps. At the time of laying water pipelines, it didn’t seem necessary then to keep detailed maps. People can face hardships if the laying of new utilities disrupts the existing ones,” she said. She further added, “Technology is now available that allows city planners to have accurate 3D maps of underground utilities. It is imperative to have these maps. One such facilitator is the Ground Penetrating Radar. ” She also pointed out how the height of the roads has increased over the years and that the repaired patch of road sinks due to soil compaction in the monsoon, on several occasions. “Vibratory sol compactors might eliminate or reduce such problems,” she suggested.
Her list of recommendations also included fitting street lights with cameras that could detect traffic movement and alert the traffic police of blockages.
