PANAJI
Cracking the whip against sub-standard road works, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant wrote to PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral and asked him to order an inquiry into all major road works executed in the last three years.
Sawant's note has also suggested a 45-day deadline for completion of the inquiry and submission of the report.
The immediate provocation for the action emanated from alleged poor quality of work on the 27-kilometer long road between Sanquelim and Chorla.
Sawant has in his note to Cabral also asked that the Assistant Engineer and the Junior Engineer responsible for the Sanquelim-Chorla road stretch contract be suspended, pending the inquiry.
Citing the possibility of "substandard work" in execution of roads, Sawant's note to Cabral states: "It is necessary that for all such major roads fact finding exercise needs to be conducted and action taken be informed within 45 days.”
The note states that the contractor neglected quality and timely completion on the populous 10-kilometer stretch between Sanquelim and Keri but instead gave priority to the 17-kilometer stretch along the ghats from Keri to Chorla.
"Quality control appears to have been compromised since the top layer, i.e. Bituminous Concrete (BC) layer has slipped away at many places," Sawant adds in his note to Cabral.
