On Saturday Goa and Panaji, in particular, witnessed a foretaste of what is to come as the state capital was battered by an unusually heavy bout of unseasonal showers that caught everyone including the smart city officials unawares.
The Met department had hinted that showers were on the way but hadn’t stated how intense or of what duration they would be. Nonetheless, a downpour of less than 100mm is par for the course were this to be during the monsoon months and as such the city’s infrastructure should be able to take the hit without flooding like it was business as usual.
Now, Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited can legitimately claim that the areas that have flooded are areas where the works are yet to be undertaken or otherwise yet to be completed. But that doesn’t absolve them of the fact that the city appears to be completely unprepared for the upcoming monsoon season.
On Saturday the city witnessed flooding -- like it does every year with water logging striking the central business streets of 18th June Road, St Inez as well as areas around Patto and the Panaji bus stand.
The deluge prompted North Goa Congress candidate Ramakant Khalap to comment: “Parshuram lifted the land of Goa out from the sea, and the BJP government has drowned it again.”
There are around six weeks left for the monsoon to hit Goa’s shores -- assuming the showers arrive as per their usual schedule. Considering that the coming weeks will be interspersed by pre-monsoon showers -- it is expected that the City is in for the long haul of suffering dug-up streets well into the new academic year.
Rather than trying to hurriedly finish the works by the government’s imposed deadline of May 31, it would be advisable that the Smart City officials prioritise making the city monsoon-ready -- clearing drains, securing the newly-built-but-yet-to-be-commissioned sewage system and the city’s vital supply lines like electricity, water supply to ensure that at least the city is liveable during what is expected to be an above average monsoon.
Meeting deadlines is important, but not at the cost of leaving work incomplete, shoddy workmanship and a job half done. The people of Panaji have suffered enough. The true reward for their suffering over the last three years and more will be to give them back their city with all its problems fixed.
The city and indeed the state at large have seen enough and more projects that have been declared as completed only to be dug up again. Prime examples are the stretch of highway between the Merces Circle and Santa Cruz junction that is now being dug up again to replace a pipe culvert with a box culvert to allow for a better flow of water between the two sides of the highway. Similarly, a completely new highway has been dug up between Socorro and Guirim to replace the culvert with a bigger one to allow for a better flow of water underneath.
The cycle of building and digging never seems to end despite hundreds of crores of rupees having been quite literally poured into the ground. The people of Goa deserve better and it is time those in charge cease the talk and deliver through action.
