the goan I network
PANAJI
PWD Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar on Thursday said there is no option other than closing the road stretch between the Cortalim junction and the Toyota showroom at Kesarval to enable work on the eight-lane Zuari bridge to continue.
“Without closing the road we have no other options, as security of the people of Goa is also important while carrying out the work,” Dhavalikar said.
He claimed that the State government has not yet taken a final decision on the issue of closure of the road-stretch at Cortalim-Kesarval including the period for which it will be closed or the date of commencement of the closure.
“I along with TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai will hold a meeting with all concerned officials in the first week of January where we will try to evolve the best solution and only then a final decision will be taken,” Dhavalikar said.
The government is proposing to shut the stretch of road between Cortalim junction and the automobile showroom along the NH-66 (formerly NH-17) and divert traffic on this exclusive North-South road link through Chicalim. The move is expected to add an additional 18-22-kms detour to the otherwise 33-km Panaji-Margao journey which thousands of Goans traverse on a daily basis.
It is also the principle route preferred by inter-state traffic both from Karnataka in the South and Maharashtra in the North, and is expected to throw traffic movement in an unimaginable chaos.
Opposition parties, including the Congress and AAP, besides civil society have
opposed the government proposal.
Without closing the road we have no other options, as security of the people of Goa is also important while carrying out the work
The State government has not yet taken a final decision on the issue of closure of the road-stretch at Cortalim-Kesarval including the period for which it will be closed or the date of commencement of the closure
