MARGAO
A look at the picture above and one gets an impression that a cover of fog has enveloped the Old Market Circle in the commercial capital, but in reality this is dust thrown up by damaged roads.
And the contractor, who is responsible for the shoddy work resulting in potholes and craters at this busy junction, is believed to be holed
up abroad.
And, if the PWD, NH-17 officials are to believed, the question of repairing the damaged road will be taken up only after the contractor returns home.
The road around the Margao Municipal Council garden and down towards the flyover was believed to have been hot-mixed a year ago, around May last year. Sadly, the road mostly around the turns near the Old Collectorate, opposite the Post Office and other stretches has turned into death trap for motorists and a source of dust pollution for citizens.
A senior PWD official told The Goan that the NH has already dispatched a letter to the contractor to take up the repair work, but has been told the contractor is presently abroad. “After the road showed signs of being washed out, the PWD sent a letter to the contractor since the contract mandates that he looks after the maintenance of the road for three years,”
the official said, adding that the contractor will be told to get the road repaired after
his return.
Questions are being raised whether the PWD, national highways or the Margao Municipal Council in public interest will remove the loose metal from the surface of the road, the main cause behind skidding of two-wheelers in the last few days. “The loose metal should be at least cleared from the road surface which has turned unmotorable, especially near the turns,” remarked a two-wheeler rider, who is convalescing at the Hospicio hospital after he met with an accident in front of the Margao post office two days ago.
Incidentally, when the media asked the Margao MLA Digambar Kamat to comment on the condition of the road, he attributed the pathetic condition of the road to less quantities of tar and asphalt in the hot-mix. “A look at the road shows that the metal has come out. This happens when there is less quantity of tar and asphalt in the hot-mix,” Kamat told the media.
Meanwhile, there’s no respite for motorists near the Old Market Circle as the patch work carried out by the PWD has failed to contain the potholes. A week ago, local residents of Madel had planted saplings at the Old Market Circle to highlight the plight of motorists, but the situation has returned to normal with the patch work hardly giving relief to the motorists.
