MAPUSA
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral on Tuesday said no road contractor will be spared for shoddy work and if required, roads will be redone to ensure that proper standard is maintained.
Cabral also said plans were afoot to engage another agency to check the variation of roads done by the national highway and submit a proper report to the State government.
“Ultimately, roads have to be properly done. I will not leave any contractor. I have told the contractors wherever road works are not proper, they have to be redone. Wherever the road has to be dug up again, we will do it,” Cabral said.
The PWD minister was responding to queries on the road expansion works of NH66 and the rise in fatal mishaps along the Patradevi to Mapusa stretch of the highway due to poor workmanship of the road contractors.
MVR Infra Pvt Ltd, which is contracted with the highway expansion work from Patradevi to Mapusa has come under the scanner for shoddy work on the highway road.
Cabral said it wasn’t right to blame the contractor entirely as the State government failed to acquire the land and hand it over to the contractor in one go.
“We should have acquired the entire land and handed it over to the contractor, which we could not do. To an extent, it’s the fault of the State government. The land was given to the contractor in bits and pieces. At many places, the service roads could not be completed due to this problem,” he said.
However, he said for the last four to five months after taking over as the PWD minister he was monitoring the works. He said in the last two months at least eight houses coming in the way of road expansion have been demolished and the owners have been rehabilitated.
Referring to the tragic accident at Torshem in Pernem last week which led to the death of a woman and her child, the PWD minister said despite barricading of the road, the mishap happened.
“The accident was very unfortunate. Now, we have done elevated barricading at that stretch,” he said.
The PWD minister informed that currently four agencies were monitoring the ongoing national highway project “ an agency for road safety, a national highway authority engineer, one contractor and the PWD.
“Once the road is completed, I intend to bring a fifth person on board to see the variation of the road and submit a proper report where the State will bear the expenses,” Cabral said.
He said before he took over, the project reports were not routed to the State government and the Principal Chief Engineer would directly send the reports to the national highway authority.
“I have asked for a change in mechanism. The new projects which are approved will not be sent to the national highway unless it is vetted by me. The new projects should go through the State government. We should know what is decided,” he said.
However, the priority is to finish the road at the earliest, he said.
