TEAM HERALD
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
VASCO: The asphalting of the road from railway over bridge near IOC to Harbour, which was suspended following protests from parents, students and teachers due to the SSC exams, commenced on Tuesday.
Speaking to Herald, junior engineer Harish Tanawade stated that due to objections from SSC students, their parents and teachers, they had to suspend asphalting of the road and the same will now be completed by April 12.
“The NH-17A comes under the State government (PWD division),” stated Tanawade. When asked how a layman will differentiate between National Highway under State government and National Highway under Central government, he failed to answer.
It may be recalled that on April 5, SSC students answering board exams in Vasco and Mormugao constituencies had a difficult time reaching the examination halls due to the traffic jam on account of asphalting of the national highway.
Some students reached the school premises after exams had commenced. Later, Mormugao MLA and Power Minister Milind Naik directed the concerned officials to suspend the asphalting of the road till April 8 and had also urged the Board to allot grace time of 20 minutes to the affected SSC students.
Meanwhile, National Highways Authority of India Technical Manager C O P Furtado said: “Though the asphalted road from railway over bridge near IOC up to Harbour is NH-17 A, it does not come under our jurisdiction and the asphalting is not done by us.”
“National Highway 17-B falls under our jurisdiction and is maintained by the Central government,” stated Furtado.
