Lack of coordination, ignorance and blame game begins
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: For the much awaited launch of the seafood festival in its new avatar — the Goa Food and Cultural Festival – be prepared to spend long hours in your vehicle amid chaos and confusion to and from the festival — thanks to a major and inexplicable lack of coordination between two different government agencies.
Even as the Goa Food and Cultural festival organised by the Goa Tourism department kicks off at the NIWS grounds at Caranzalem the Goa, massive digging to lay a sewer by the Public Works Department Division VI has blocked off a whole two lanes of the four-laned Dr Jack Sequeira Dona Paula-Miramar link Road for a stretch of nearly two kilometres reducing the wide, much-frequented bypass to half its original size.
The PWD, which is carrying out the work has claimed ignorance about the plans of the Tourism department and has instead said that they had applied for the permissions well in advance even before the Food and Cultural Festival could begin.
“We had applied for and secured the permissions from the various authorities including the CCP (Corporation of the city of Panjim) well in advance, before the Food and Cultural festival was thought of,” Principal Chief Engineer of the PWD J J S Rego told Herald.
The Executive Engineer of the Work Division VI, Dilip Dhavlikar corroborated the view of the Principal Chief Engineer and further said that they were kept in the dark about the festival.
“Is it starting tomorrow?” Dhavlikar asked when Herald contacted him.
The PWD commenced the work of laying a sewer by blocking off the road more than a month back to both lay a water pipeline as well as a sewer to connect Dona Paula as well as the La Marvel Colony and other areas to the sewerage network ultimately leading to the Sewage Treatment Plant at Tonca in Caranzalem.
However Dona Paula residents are not amused.
“In any case that road is crowded at peak hours from Dona Paula even the road leading to Bambolim,” Engineer and Resident of Dona Paula Sylvestre D’Souza said.
“This is only going to further aggravate the chaos,” D’Souza added stressing that there should have been no question about the coordination between the two departments.
The tourism department is promoting its food and cultural festival along with carnival celebrations in a big way to draw tourists from all over the country and abroad in a bid to pump up the season’s figures. A chaotic situation outside and along the roads leading to the festival will only damage the reputation of the state, that is on a mission to rebrand itself.
The sewer work has cut of several connecting lanes from the internal Caranzalem road to the main link road.
The festival will be held from February 8-10.
