Karsten Miranda
The conditions of Margao roads are so bad that residents and those who visit Margao swear that this is the worst they have seen in years. There are big potholes and poor mud patch up work on key roads, key junctions and the ongoing digging for JICA sewerage connection has only narrowed the already narrow roads across Margao.
The situation gets all the more troublesome as the code of conduct that has been in force since the last week of September prevents authorities from issuing any major work order to repair the roads.
The various government departments be it the electricity department, BSNL, Margao Municipality or PWD including the contractors for JICA have been pulled up umpteen times by the district administration and have failed to submit compliance reports in the month of June after they had failed to meet the deadline of stopping all digging work before the monsoons.
The ensuing monsoons forced people to bear the brunt of the terrible road conditions and the month of September saw the agencies try and rush and repair the same. While they managed to complete work in few areas like in front of Ana Fonte garden and near Santosh Garage in Vidyanagar, several key areas were still yet to be fixed. For example, the area in and around the two Margao schools – Loyola and Fatima High School and the Margao police station which invariably sees a huge rush on those roads. The road around the Margao municipal garden, a road used by everyone that needs to enter Margao is also suffering from shoddy mud work to cover up the old dug up areas and the roads leading to the old pick up stand are currently being dug up for sewerage work creating huge problems for parking and traffic.
Western Bypass and areas on the outskirts of Margao like near the Konan railway station have potholes that need urgent repair work. It may be recalled that an emergency meeting was convened in the month of May in the municipality and the deputy collector of Salcete was called to tackle these issues. The areas of Aquem and Fatorda have been attended to but the residents of Margao have to wait for the new civic body to be elected and the code of conduct to be lifted before the Margao roads can be restored to normal.
