Team Herald
PANJIM: It’s been five months since the residents of Sao Tome areas are forced to live in dusty conditions on account of the ongoing ‘unplanned’ Smart City works which have left the walls of their heritage houses red.
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Dr Luis Dias and his wife Chryselle D’Silva Dias, residing in Casa Da Moeta (Mint House) on Saturday narrated their ordeal which they have been undergoing since October last year.
Chryselle said, “The walls of our house are full of dust. The contractor raised the height of the floor so much that everybody who is standing is looking inside the bathroom. I had to change the design of the window because of Smart City works. Who is going to pay for it? Dust is flying inside our house.”
Expressing their disgust over the “ill-thought’ Smart City works in the area, they said, “Earlier there was a gutter. But the contractor closed it and realised his folly when we brought it to their notice.”
They said, “Now, they are going to dig it again to provide drains for flow of water during monsoon. We never had flooding in this area.”
“We are residents of this area. Principally we are not against Smart City works which have been going on since October last year. We told the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Ltd to show us the plan, but it was not shown. We explained to them our practical problems, but they are not listening. They are talking of constructing universal footpaths. They forgot drainage and now they are going to redo the work. Instead of increasing the height of the pavements, they merged the road with the pavement with no thought for the flow of rainwater during the monsoon. No inputs were taken from the locals,” the Dias couple said.
“We are badly affected. My son is answering SSC exams from March 1 and he is disturbed. I faced respiratory problems and am now taking treatment for pneumonia. Instead of washing roads to clear dust they are using dust cleaning blowers,” Chryselle said.
She complained that people mostly tourists, come near their house and drink liquor and park vehicles, causing nuisance. They park their vehicles in front of their house, a historic heritage building. The new footpath is an obstruction and the ramp created to give residents access to the road is an even bigger nuisance, they added.
