One of the many roads that have been dug up in Panaji.
PANAJI
Traffic flow in the capital city was disrupted, especially in the peak morning and late evening hours with excavation of roads in newer areas for the ongoing smart city sewerage work restarted to connect the new network to the old.
Late on Thursday afternoon, contractors and workers were seen digging up a one-metre-wide trench right in the middle of the road from the Taj Vivanta junction in St Inez leading towards the staff quarters and the municipal library at the periphery of 'Muslim Vadda'.
The area is one of the busiest in terms of traffic movement in the city.
Earlier trenches were dug at least two other locations interrupting the traffic flow at four-arm junctions near the Vishal Supermart and at the Don Bosco High School junction last weekend.
Site officials had confirmed to The Goan that the trenches were necessary to build underground ducts connecting the new sewage network to the existing system.
Meanwhile, in several other locations, trenches are being dug alongside footpaths which are being redesigned with interlocking tiles reportedly to lay service cables and other utility pipelines.
The road digging and excavations are likely to add to the woes of Panaji residents and commuters who have been facing the rough and tumble of having to navigate through impediments posed by the Smart City project work.
Most residents and green activists have often raised concerns over the haphazard implementation of the work with scant respect for the safety of citizens and other problems like dust pollution caused by the continuous excavation work.
