VASCO
The road between Baina and Desterro church has become a nightmare for motorists in the recent past as minor accidents are a regular affair on this stretch.
While residents were left bitterly complaining of several potholes left behind by contractors of Sewerage Infrastructural Development Corporation of Goa Limited, now a fibre optic cable pipe lying exposed on the pothole-riddled road is proving disastrous as it has caused several accidents.
Residents of Desterro have demanded immediate action from the authorities. They have also demanded that the contractor and the official of the telecom company be booked for causing danger to lives due to negligent works.
According to the residents, the pipe of a fibre optic cable laid by a telecom company has suddenly emerged from a pothole in the heavy rains causing accidents now and then.
A resident Sameer Khan informed the media that he was eyewitness to an accident where in a small child suffered a fracture on the hand. “A small girl was riding with her her father on the bike in the rains when the two-wheeler suddenly punctured, went out of control and fell. Only after the water was drained from the unsuspecting pothole, the strong plastic pipe could be seen. We have now put stones and mud in the pothole, but to no avail. Even after that we have seen two accidents. We want the authorities concerned to act before there is a fatal accident. There is a school nearby and students’ lives are at risk. The contractor of the telecom company has to be booked,” Khan said.
Meanwhile, convenor of NGO Goa First Prashuram Sonurlekar has said that recently a contractor was booked by Vasco police
after a councillor had caught him trying to cut a road in Shantinagar without valid permission.
Sonurlekar also informed that while fibre optic cables were put alongside roads there was no maintenance carried out by the company.
“These fibre optic cables are laid all over Goa on the edges of the roads. As a result people have faced difficulties and many accidents have occurred on account of the shoddy patchwork to cover up the dug up portions. There are many roads where the cables have popped out after the concrete patchwork was washed away in the monsoon,” he said.
Sonurlekar said the fibre optic cable on the stretch between Bain and Desterro is so strong and sharp that any two-wheeler or four-wheeler coming in contact with it can cause tyres to burst immediately. “I want to tell the authorities to act fast and ensure that these cables are properly covered and do not inconvenience pedestrians and motorists,” he asserted.
