MARGAO
Around 10 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) volunteers from Quepem and Navelim held a protest dharna in front of the PWD head office at Fatorda on Tuesday highlighting the bad condition of the Margao-Quepem road.
The volunteers set a 15-day deadline on the PWD officials to issue the work order for the levelling and hot-mixing of the road or face action.
They also blamed the Congress MLAs representing Quepem and Salcete for their silence in getting the road repaired and made worthy for motorists.
Addressing the media after the protest, AAP Quepem Coordinator Patricia Fernandes claimed that the Margao-Quepem road was tarred and hot-mixed around 15-16 years ago, with the PWD only carrying out the patch work of the road over the decade and half. “There are three different roads from Margao which can be taken to proceed to Quepem and all three are in bad condition due to irregular digging from all sides. The road is covered with patchwork which gives a feel of nothing less than a mountain ride.”
Moreover, she pointed out that the road from Rawanfond to Pali near the cross on the rock is another nightmare due to digging of perfectly good road for laying sewerage line for the last few years.
The AAP volunteers pointed out that it is no secret that the tarring and hot-mixing of the road are done just before the onset of monsoons.
“We have told the PWD officials to conduct a site inspection and survey the road at the earliest,” AAP leader Sidharth Karapurkar said.
