Vote bank politics has costFatorda constituency dearly.
Two yearas ago the government hadsanctioned Rs 4 crore for widening of the Borda-Fatorda road. Whatever work has been done on the road beforethe assembly elections was piece-meal. In some areas the road has been widenedby 20 metres and at others by only 12 metres. Post polls all widening work hascome to a standstill.
Some gadda owners who have politicalallegiance either to Damu Naik or Vijai Sardessai have only made matters worse.The same gadda owners have allegedly erected religious structures along theroad in bid to stall the road-widening.
PWD also needs to take some ofthe responsibility for doing a shoddy job, as they have been lax with landacquisition process. Initially the PWD disbursed compensation to land losers butfailed to oversee people follow correct specifications. Public were compensatedfor releasing 10 metres of their land for road widening but most people leftonly two metres and constructed their boundaries.
“The ODP shows a 20-metre wide road. It alsoshows a 30-metre parallel road behind Borda bordering the fields. While theparallel road has been ruled out, the widening has been carried out in a most haphazardmanner,” said Borda Citizen’s Front member and social activist Jose MariaMiranda.
He further said that in 2005 they had objectedto the 20-metre widening because they thought a divider would be needed forsuch a wide road. Even the former MLA had objected to it then, he added.
Tito Cardozo, the councillor ofward no 9 and son of the former Congress MLA Alex Cardozo pointed out that PWDhad failed to align the drains while carrying out the road widening. “This has causedflooding and water logging in many homes and shops,” Cardozo said.
Sources disclosed that theproblem started when Damu began widening works in early 2011, while instructingPWD to go slow on gaddas and heritage compound walls keeping the 2012 assembly pollsin mind. While the Outline Development Plan shows a 20-meter wide road, PWDofficials widened the road by only 12 meters in some areas leaving electricpoles in the middle of the road posing threat to commuters.
The uneven road widening hascreated major confusion and even led to accidents.
While the Borda chapel and a fewother religious crosses come in the way of the widening, a group of vendors anda bar owner has allegedly setup an illegal temple around a gulmohar tree nearmultipurpose school to prevent widening at this junction.
“The entire road-widening in Borda is a scam.Tenders were given to a group of contractors who carried out works and hot mixedthe road at the earlier width during the Code of Conduct and have now fled withthe change in MLA in Fatorda. This government needs to investigate the roadwidening scam in Borda,” said independent MLA Vijai Sardessai.
When contacted, Damu Naik refused to speak.
