PANJIM: After finding itself at the centre of public ire over the pothole-ridden roads across the State, PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar has appealed to the public to WhatsApp the photographs of potholes along with its Google location, following which they will repair the said roads immediately.
This appeal was ridiculed, as the public pointed out that every single road, right from the National to State highways, district, city and village roads, are filled with potholes and are clearly visible to the govt. This year’s heavy monsoon of over 140 inches has led to the deteriorating road conditions. Locals and the opposition have alleged that these roads have been constructed with inferior quality.
PWD had come under fire from the public on social media for the poor road quality. Citizens across the State have taken to social media to share pictures of pothole-ridden roads and the struggle faced by them.
After failing to give any respite to the travellers from the worst-hit pothole roads, Pauskar took to social media to appeal to the public. “Public are hereby informed to forward photographs along with Google location of any potholes existing on all roads other than National highways in the State of Goa on WhatsApp number 7796667373 for immediate action,” he said.
During the Monsoon State Legislative Assembly session, Pauskar had assured to fill all the potholes before the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. However, the department later blamed the incessant rains for failing to fulfill this promise.
This year, Goa has been hit by the one of the strongest monsoons in years. The State has received nearly 31 per cent of excess rainfall.
However, locals point out that the monsoon and the accompanying water logging is an annual feature. Rather than preparing in advance by clearing drainage lines and repairing roads wherever required, they criticise the authorities for only springing into action once the rains have wreaked havoc.
Former PWD Minister Ramakrishna Dhavalikar also blamed the rains for the bad road conditions and said that roads in Goa are hot mixed since 2002 and it is very difficult for such roads to sustain if the overall rainfall is above 110-120 inches.
