the goan I network
MAPUSA
It’s not a novel protest anymore, but nevertheless, concerned citizens from Calangute and surrounding villages identified several potholed roads and planted saplings in them to highlight the bad condition of roads in the coastal constituency on Sunday morning.
With the ongoing sewerage work and the heavy monsoon to boot, finding potholes was not an uphill task for the residents.
The citizens under the newly formed Calangute Constituency Forum travelled the length and breadth of the constituency from Sinquerim to Calangute and Arpora to Nagao inspecting the roads for potholes.
“We did an audit of the main and internal roads in Calangute constituency and identified more than 200 potholes at various places. We have planted saplings in some of the potholes so that the authorities wake up and do something about the dangerous condition of the roads,” said Premanand Divkar, President of the Forum.
Recollecting promises made in the past, Divkar said in 2012 Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had sold dreams of creating infrastructure of international standards in Calangute.
“Six years down the line, forget about international standards, we don’t even have basic infrastructure in place in the village. The roads have literally washed away and power supply has been at its worst,” Divkar said.
The Forum’s members also visited the Sinquerim hill, which witnessed wanton tree cutting on Saturday and took stock of the situation.
“It’s a hill with at least 30 to 40 percent gradient covering an area of almost 50,000 sq mt. More than 30 large trees have been chopped,” Divkar told The Goan.
He said that the Forum will write to the forest department and also approach the deputy collector and the North Goa Collector over destruction of the green cover without permission.
Divkar further said the Forum plans to take up the issue of garbage treatment plant where water from the plant flows down to Orda emitting a stink in the village.
He said Calangute spring in Naikavaddo was also on the radar of the Calangute Constituency Forum. “It’s one of the oldest springs, which is in bad shape. A lot of waste has been dumped in the area and we plan to clean the place very soon,” he said.
