Agitated locals of Saligao held an impromptu protest against a bad stretch of road along the Parra-Saligao road late Wednesday evening after a two-wheeler rider met with a self-accident and fractured her leg as she lost balance after her bike fell into a pothole.
Soon after the mishap, local residents rushed to the spot and blocked the road by placing boulders in the middle of the road.
The incident happened at around 8.45 pm.
A stretch of at least 50 to 100 metres near the residence of former chief minister Dr Wilfred De Souza is completely worn out with several deep potholes.
Several accidents have been reported from the area as unsuspected riders get caught in the trap of the pot-hole ridden road.
Surprisingly, just a month ago, local MLA Kedar Naik along with Saligao Sarpanch Lucas Remedios and some panchayat members had broken the traditional coconut at the spot with much fanfare promising to repair the road promptly. But one month down the line, nothing has been done and mishaps continue to take place at the stretch.
“We cannot tolerate this anymore. Work on other roads is taken up but this stretch is untouched. One month ago, the MLA came and broke the coconut announcing to repair the road but till today nothing has happened. Clearly it was a publicity stunt by the local MLA,” said Pradeep Padgoankar, a resident of Saligao, who participated in the impromptu protest.
Interestingly, some BJP members of the Saligao BJP mandal were also present at the site and were involved in blocking the road.
Out of the nine panchayat members, only one panchayat member Ramdas Konadkar visited the spot during the protest. Later, Saligao police rushed to the spot and cleared the blockade.
