MARGAO
Will the authorities light up the Comba stretch of the Margao ring road coinciding with the ensuing Diwali festival, celebrated as the Festival of Lights, scheduled on Sunday?
Or, will motorists, including two-wheeler riders, have to wait for the formal inauguration of the illumination project at the hands of VIPs, leaving them no option than to drive on the half-a-kilometer long ring road stretch, starting from the Comba subway and joining the Colva-Margao road at Old market in pitch dark conditions?
Well, it’s now over a fortnight since the electric poles were erected and the lamps installed on the poles on the Comba ring road stretch. In fact, many were quick to jump to the conclusion that the stretch will finally get illuminated ahead of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Nehru stadium to kick off the National Games.
Curtains have come down on the National Games on Thursday, but the ring road stretch is still not illuminated, leaving motorists to wonder whether the authorities are waiting for the VIPs to inaugurate the illumination project.
The Goan understands that the illumination project, estimated to have cost the exchequer Rs 20-odd lakh, was sanctioned after the media highlighted how riders run the risk of riding in pitch dark conditions. In fact, while the government had completed the Comba ring road project more than two years ago, the stretch was not illuminated for reasons best known to the authorities and the powers that be.
Sources confirmed that the electric poles and the lamps are being placed all along the route, but the same is not inaugurated for reasons best known to the Power department.
