the goan I network
MARGAO
Even as the State PWD has started work on repairing of some of the damaged roads at many places, the National Highway Authority of India has been virtually caught napping, with no sign of the officials or the contractor taking up restoration of the damaged roads around the Margao Municipal Council Square.
Five clear days of dry spell now and the NHAI officials are nowhere to be seen around the MMC Square. Neither the road washed away by the rains has been restored nor have the potholes and craters filled up along the stretch.
That’s not all. The MMC-flyover stretch of the highway has also showed signs of being washed away as evident by the gravel and loose material all along the road. The only intervention by the NHAI till date is to lift away the gravel scattered along the damaged roads.
NHAI officials could not exactly say whether the repair would be carried out departmentally or the contractor will be told to do the needful.
Sources said the authority may ask the contractor to fill up the potholes on the road, but questions are being asked how and in what way will it ask the contractor to repair the stretches of the road completely washed away during the rains. In the meantime, motorists have to face double trouble while driving on the highway passing through the city. They have to not only grapple with the potholes and craters, but contend with dust pollution triggered by the damaged roads in the city.
