The rampant road cutting that continues despite a formal ban on working on freshly laid roads once again exposes systemic flaws in departmental coordination and enforcement. The issue of poor roads and road-digging has been figuring in the business of the Legislative Assembly for the past several years. It surfaced yet again when Digambar Kamat took over the PWD portfolio recently. There was a categorical assurance that no roads will be allowed to be dug once they were hot-mixed. Kamat ignited hopes of a change when he stated that PWD will be in command. He assured that departments will have to coordinate to avoid repeat digging, and moved towards a uniform single-window system to manage permissions. Almost a year later, nothing has changed, and departments continue to open up roads just as randomly as they were before.A road stretch from Calangute Police Station to Dolphin Circle was dug up within three days of hot mixing with authorities stating that a culvert issue prompted reopening, although locals expressed anger over the inconvenience. Ironically, the same road has been repeatedly dug up by multiple departments. In Mapusa, a newly hot mixed road from Bodgeshwar Temple to Hutatma Chowk was opened up within days because a private telecom agency wanted to lay their cables. The Electricity department has been repeatedly opening up roads in Assagao, and in Taleigao, a hotmixed road at the Church junction was opened up within 48 hours.
The PWD may be emphasising the adherence to a three-year defect liability period during which no excavation should occur. The ground story is completely different. The PWD has now cited emergency exceptions, but the frequency of such digging does not reflect an emergency; rather, it exposes a clear lack of coordination. Is every road digging an emergency? Hotmixing or repairs of roads are done through a process, during which the PWD should be coordinating with other departments to ensure that they complete their work before the topping. What we see is a lack of foresight and failure to plan. Emergency exemptions and the lack of stringent enforcement mechanisms would lead to chaos that utility agencies, contractors, and even private players will capitalise on, knowing well that their violations will be exempted. Emergency exemptions appear to be an escape route to run away from accountability. The Taleigao sewerage line work that has forced another excavation is a classic case. One cannot expect these works to go on forever, and this certainly does not qualify to be an emergency. A noticeable flaw in the supposed inter-departmental coordination is the fact that although a dedicated committee has been formed, it is non-operational, exposing a gap between policy formulation and implementation. Through this mechanism, Goans expected relief from haphazard road cutting, but what is seen today is chaos again — each department working on its own, no real-time monitoring, and no penalties. The inconvenience caused to the public appears to be of least concern.The government’s lone move to initiate criminal action against a private internet service provider for illegal digging is a step in the right direction, but it is still reactive rather than preventive. Such actions do little to address the systemic loopholes that allow unauthorised digging to happen in the first place. It’s time the PWD owned up to this failure and honoured the promises of streamlining systems. There is a need for comprehensive reforms. Real-time monitoring, stricter penalties and legal action against violators are urgently required. Otherwise, common citizens will continue to pay the price.
