MARGAO
This road is neither a notified state highway nor a national highway, but motorists and the authorities alike call it the Eastern bypass - beginning from Nuvem junction before it wends through Arlem and culminates at the Aquem Power house junction.
Since its commissioning over half-a-decade ago, however, the Eastern bypass now plays host to all the inter-state heavy traffic plying down South. Yet, this crucial road link is still craving for illumination, especially along the Nuvem-Arlem stretch - a cause for many accidents along the bypass.
The government and the power department in particular may boast of covering most of the talukas with LED illumination, but welcome to the Nuvem-Arlem stretch of the Eastern bypass, where one cannot find an electric pole on the entire stretch, leave alone LED or sodium lamps.
Indeed, the absence of illumination along the stretch has once again come to the fore following Monday night's accidents involving four cars when the vehicles rammed against a stationary truck, which was parked alongside the road after it developed a technical snag.
Inquiries by The Goan, however, have only revealed that neither did the PWD ever proposed illumination of the road nor had the power department stepped in to get the entire stretch illuminated, with both the two
departments passing the buck.
A senior PWD official maintained that the onus of erecting electric poles and illuminating the bypass rests with the electricity department. "The PWD normally builds the road and leaves it for the power department to take a call on the illumination. It's only for mega road projects for which estimates run into crores of rupees that the PWD makes provision for illumination. As far as the Eastern bypass is concerned, since it is neither a national highway nor a state highway, it's purely for the power department to take a call on the illumination," the PWD official informed.
Interestingly, Electricity Chief Engineer Devdassan, however, begged to differ. He said the power department comes into play only when a local municipality or panchayat body adopts a resolution recommending illumination of a particular road with the condition the body agrees to foot the project cost. "I do not think the power department is at fault over the absence of illumination along the eastern bypass. There was no proposal from the PWD nor from the local panchayat or municipal body to illuminate the bypass," he said.
What's interesting to note is that the power department is believed to have now prepared estimates amounting to Rs 20-odd lakh upon instructions from the TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai, but which department will foot the bill remains unanswered till date.
It's now over a month and half since the bypass was inspected by the TCP Minister along with officials of the PWD and electricity department, but the fate of the project hangs in balance.
