PONDA: True to its name, Fonnya has indeed become a ‘city of fonds’ (craters) due to the rampant road digging all across.
The haphazard digging for various developmental works has left the roads in Ponda with huge craters and wells, causing great hardship for the commuters in the town since last two years.
It is understood that the ongoing work of laying sewerage pipelines would take some more years to complete and till then the government would not tar or hot-mix the roads.
Daily commuters complain that travelling on Ponda roads is causing them back pain, spondylosis and respiratory diseases. Besides, the bad roads are also leading to frequent traffic congestion.
Therefore, the residents of Ponda demand that at least the roads be repaired as they have become death traps, besides causing dust pollution.
More than 1000 sewerage chambers have been dug up in the city for sewerage wells; but after their construction, the roads are neither restored nor tarred.
PMC Councillor Venktesh Naik said that the municipality has received several complaints from the citizens that the work by Sewerage Department is going on in a haphazard and dangerous manner and that the department is undertaking the works without informing the PMC and traffic police.
“We have issued notice to the Sewerage Department for unplanned work asking them to restore the roads which were dug up earlier and then go for further digging,” he said.
A city resident Vishal Phadte said that DGP Muktesh Chandar should once travel through Ponda roads on a two-wheeler to experience firsthand the pain of commuting on these roads.
“Our heads are not made of steel; nor our spinal cords. The DGP should not only take care of our heads advising us to wear helmet, but also of our spinal cord. The PMC has even passed a resolution for helmet relaxation which is not taken seriously by the traffic department which keeps issuing fines daily in the city,” Councillor Naik quipped.
