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VASCO
A two-wheeler rider from Vasco was injured after he lost balance on a road filled with potholes at Vaddem-Vasco on Wednesday night, sparking off angry reactions from an activist who slammed the PWD for setting up a WhatsApp helpline to report potholes.
Sources said onlookers immediately shifted injured Manuel Vaz to a nearby private clinic after Vaz sustained injuries and bruises on his hands, legs and face.
Speaking to reporters about the incident, social activist Vikram Sarmalcar, who rushed Vaz to a private clinic, hit out at the PWD for setting up a WhatsApp helpline to report potholes and send details to the department.
“We are lucky that Vaz is not very seriously injured. These potholes are as big as craters and surprisingly, no one has taken the initiative to fill these potholes. The PWD are divided by jurisdiction and one department says the stretch belongs to another department and hence, they cannot patch up the potholes. Should citizens suffer because there is no coordination between departments,” asked a furious Sarmalcar.
“We have four BJP MLAs, including two ministers, in the Mormugao taluka and it is ridiculous that they pass along this road. Why does the PWD need a WhatsApp helpline to realise locations of bad roads when almost all roads have gone from bad to worse?”
Sarmalcar claimed that there were many ministers and legislators, including Dy chief minister Chandrakant Kavlekar, who travels by the Zuari bridge, but said they have not done anything about the bad roads at Aggacaim and the big potholes on Zuari bridge.
