MARGAO
Panic rent the air at Calvaddo-Benaulim on Friday evening after the main road developed a crack after what locals called an eruption.
Colva police station in-charge, PI Theron D’Costa, who rushed to the site after being informed of the incident by Benaulim Sarpanch Xavier Pereira, has intimated the disaster management cell headed by Deputy Collector, Margao Uday Prabhudesai.
Pending the reasons behind the sudden crack on the roadside, Deputy Collector, Prabhudesai informed that he has spoken to the PWD engineers and the traffic police to inspect the site and to stop traffic from plying along the road side.
Eye witnesses pointed out that the roadside has developed a crack, which is visible to the naked eye. Sources quoted a local as saying there was an eruption at the site before the roadside developed a crack.
Locals wondered whether any pipeline or a gas line has been laid underneath the road and whether the eruption followed by the crack has surfaced because of any pressure build up.
Even as the locals demanded thorough investigation into the episode, Colva police station in-charge, PI Theron D’Costa made his quick presence at the site to take stock of the situation. Even as he sent an SOS to the Margao Deputy Collector heading the taluka disaster management team, PI Theron said it is a fact a crack is visible on the roadside. He, however, said it is for the authorities to find out the exact reason behind the crack or the eruption has created the crack as has been claimed by the locals.
When contacted, Deputy Collector, Uday Prabhudesai he had immediately asked the Salcete mamlatdar to depute a staff on the site to ascertain the situation and to conduct a panchamana. “Pending the panchanama, I spoke to the PWD assistant engineer and the police to erect barricades along the roadside so that the road does not pose any danger to the motorists,” Prabhudesai said, adding that the traffic police has erected barricades on the roadside on late Friday.
