Govt gives assurance to HC during PIL hearing
PANAJI
The Goa government will appoint an officer as a single point of contact for citizens to lodge grievances regarding the ongoing construction work on the elevated corridor at Porvorim. Advocate General Devidas Pangam made this assurance before the High Court of Bombay at Goa during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation on Monday.
When the hearing resumed, petitioner Advocate Moses Pinto pointed out pollution and the absence of barricades along the work stretches despite previous assurances by the Public Works Department (PWD) and contractor.
“We will place this mechanism (appointing a govt officer) before the court on Tuesday. It will allow people to submit complaints, which will then be addressed,” Pangam said as the Division Bench of Justice M S Karnik and Justice Nivedita Mehta sought a mechanism to deal with public grievances related to the project.
The Court also directed the Executive Engineer of the PWD Jude Carvalho to remain physically present during the next hearing on Tuesday. The Court observed non-compliance with earlier orders including safety precautions.
The AG conceded that while measures are now being taken, the issues could have been avoided had the PWD implemented proper precautions before construction began.
During the last hearing, the government informed the court that 60-70 per cent of compliance measures had been completed, however, critical issues such as the hot-mixing of certain road stretches to ensure smoother traffic flow and reduce pollution, full-fledged deployment of traffic marshals, etc were pending.
The High Court has issued specific directives to the contractor, ordering the completion of pending tasks and submission of a compliance report within a week. Earlier, the Bench stated that no new construction should commence unless proper hot-mixed roads are in place. The contractor was also instructed to install traffic signages as per the District Magistrate's notification.
