PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has directed the Public Works Department to file an affidavit by Tuesday detailing when it will complete the pending work on the Margao ring road and throw it open to the public.
The directions were issued by a Division Bench of Justices Mahesh Sonak and Prithviraj Chavan in a public interest petition taken up suo-motu by the High Court in 2015 following media reports on work being kept pending on the Ring-Road and the Western bypass.
In the case of the Western-bypass the division bench of the High Court, also directed the Regional Officer of Ministry of Roads Transport and Highways to be present in the court at the next hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
The Government advocate was also told to communicate the order to the MORTH’s Regional Officer through the Executive Engineer of the State.
Earlier, the Goa government had informed the court that the Regional Officer, MORTH Navi Mumbai is the officer in-charge of the construction of the Western bypass and not the state government.
“In case no affidavit is filed or the regional officer fails to remain present in Court on January 23 a serious view would be taken in the matter,” the court’s order read.
Meanwhile the Goa government’s counsel told the court that structures which obstructed completion of the work on the Ring Road have been demolished and eleven families rehabilitated. The Western bypass project, which aims to decongest traffic in Margao city, has been lying in limbo for the last 15 years. The seven-km bypass road starts at Nuvem and passes through Seraulim, Benaulim, Margao, Telaulim and Navelim.
According to traffic police projections, there are approximately 82,787 vehicles entering the town in all directions on a daily basis.
