OLD GOA
The sudden digging of the road at Neura left devotees and pilgrims fuming while travelling to participate in the Old Goa Novena as a bottleneck was created in the area, resulting in traffic jams.
The Goan was given to understand that the digging of the road was undertaken to lay the underground 11 KV power cables.
However, some devotees have questioned the timing of the work as they said the road between Pilar and Old Goa is frequented by vehicles on a regular basis as people are travelling to participate in the Novena of St Francis Xavier.
“Only four days are left for the Feast of St Francis Xavier and this work could have been delayed till the feast was over,” a pilgrim informed The Goan.
When contacted, St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar clarified that the work is undertaken on an urgent basis to resolve the power issues faced by locals of Neura and Azossim-Mandur.
“There are frequent blackouts witnessed in these two villages due to the fault in the Aerial Bunch Cables,” said Borkar.
“The underground power cables are being laid to connect the transformers of Neura-Pequeno and Neura, as the Aerial Bunch Cables between these two transformers are faulty and the faults cannot be detected.”
“For the moment, power supply for these two villages is from the Corlim substation. But, if there is any overload at Corlim, then the villages of Azossim-Mandur and Neura would have to face blackouts, due to which the work of laying underground cables is undertaken on an urgent basis,” said the MLA, while appealing to people to bear the inconvenience.
