Team Herald
PONDA: Ponda MLA Ravi Naik has criticised the PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar for shifting the responsibility for Kerya landslide onto him (Ravi Naik), who was the chief minister in 1991.
Terming the landslide as PWD made disaster, Ravi said that the department cut the hill vertically so that it could construct retaining walls all along the national highway. “Why did the PWD cut the hills vertically instead of benching it? Since the hill was cut vertically, it collapsed,” he said.
Producing before the media the documents of land acquisition at Kerya by the government and NH authorities, he said that the notification for acquiring land for widening the road to 45 meters was published on January 8, 1991, but he became chief minister only on January 25, 1991. “Then, how I failed to acquire 60 metres of land at the site?” he questioned.
Meanwhile, Ravi alleged that the PWD minister was wasting the funds provided by the Central government by issuing separate tenders such as land filling, hill cutting and construction of retaining wall. “Instead, he should have floated a single tender for all these works,” he said.
Pointing out that the national highway at Kundaim, Porvorim and Cancona is widened by benching the hills, which require no retaining walls, Ravi questioned why the same was not done at Kerya. “Why the PWD minister wants to build retaining wall at Kerya?” he questioned.
Condemning Sudin for calling Khandepar and Kerya locals as illiterate, Ravi questioned, “If Sudin is so educated and qualified, why is that landslide occurred? Why the roads in Goa become bad during every rain?”
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Highway reopened for traffic
The National Highway at the Kerya landslide spot was reopened for vehicular traffic on Saturday. However, after a security guard died in an accident at the spot, two-wheelers have been prohibited from using the road as the same is still slippery due to the landslide mud that is yet to be cleared. PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar had declared that the road would be reopened on July 2, after assessing the safety of the road for traffic. Initially the work of clearing the landslide was going at a slow pace as only a couple of earth movers and few trucks were used for the job. However, after criticism from the public, the authorities used more machineries to clear the hill.
