OLD GOA
Agreeing that the retaining wall near Santan Church collapsed after building the parapet wall over it and raising the road height, PWD minister Nilesh Cabral has assured that he would order a probe into the matter once he gets to know all the details in the matter.
The assurance was made by Cabral when he, accompanied by PWD officials, MLA Viresh Borkar and former MLA Francisco Silveira, visited the site to take stock of the situation. “One can easily judge that the original wall collapsed under the weight of the additional wall and also due to the raising of the height of the road,” Cabral stated.
When questioned whether a probe would be ordered into the matter, Cabral assured that a probe would be ordered only after he understands the matter in detail.
“I have called for a meeting of the PWD officials to get all the answers, including why it was not studied whether the old wall would take the weight of the additional wall,” the minister added.
Further, Cabral informed that he cannot promise whether the retaining wall would be rebuilt before the feast of St Ana Church, which is on July 26, as he said that the entire matter would be studied thoroughly and a permanent solution worked out on the way ahead. “This project needs to be studied in detail as the cost would run in crores and I don’t want to hurry as feasts will come and go,” Cabral further said.
He further said that the height barriers would be installed on both sides of the sloppy road to prevent heavy vehicles from using it.
Meanwhile, St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar said that he was apprehensive about the raising of the road height from the very beginning and that he wanted the entire retaining wall to be re-built.
“However, as rebuilding the wall did not fall into the scope of work and also because the cost ran into lakhs of rupees, only the height of the road was raised and the parapet wall was built as a precautionary measure to avoid mishaps at the site,” Borkar informed.
Borkar says road repair files delayed, but Cabral says process needs to be followed
OLD GOA: Stating that his department is not delaying files relating to repair of works, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral said there is a procedure which needs to be followed.
Cabral was replying to a question by The Goan on St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar stating that due to undue delay by PWD in approving files for road repairs, the works in his constituency are pending resulting in people suffering in the rains.
“The power department has dug the roads for laying 11 KV underground cables and till they inform us that the work is completed, we cannot undertake repairs,” Cabral stated.
“Also, a process needs to be followed. There is tendering, issuance of work order, etc,” the minister informed while adding that one just cannot issue work orders hastily as public money is involved.
However, MLA Borkar said that for issues like road repairs the process needs to be hastened and not be a lengthy one. “Even after personally following up with the PWD officials, the road repair works are delayed,” Borkar said.
