THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
After digging up the roads in Ribandar to install underground cabling wires for electricity, the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Corporation (IPSCDL), the body undertaking the work, had promised to re-instate them by May 30. However, residents of Ribandar on Friday said that they were upset with the haphazard manner in which the body has gone ahead with the reinstatement of the roads.
Residents said that not only are the roads badly done, they are also set to pose a huge problem to residents during the monsoons.
Speaking to “The Goan”, Adv Sahish Mahambrey said that the roads have been done in a “shabby” manner with lose pebbles, and as soon as the first rains hit Ribandar, these will just wash away.
“No concern has been shown as to where the gutters are, and how the water will drain during the monsoons,” said Mahambrey. “There’s going to be a lot of water logging. It’s just going to be a trap for two wheelers,” he added. Further, the advocate said that if anyone took their four wheelers down the narrow lanes of Ribandar, after the patch-work done by IPSCDL, it feels like one is off-roading.
He also said that there was a huge dump from left-over mud from the project that has been left near the Divar ferry point.
Another resident Elvis D’Souza said that the BSNL phone lines of his area had been restored only on Friday after four weeks. He said it was very upsetting to see the lack of co-ordination between IPSCDL and other departments like BSNL, PWD and Water Departments.
D’Souza also said, “The parts where the roads have been re-done up by IPSCDL (meant to be the footpaths, are at a slightly higher level than the existing roads. This could pose a problem during the monsoons as well as when the time comes to tar the whole road. But we’ll just have to wait and watch.” He also lamented that IPSCDL hadn’t dug up the narrow Ribandar roads with care, and had instead used JCB machines.
Meanwhile, the MD and CEO of IPSCDL Swayandipta Pal Chaudhuri is supposed to inspect the area today (Saturday) morning.
A case with regard to the matter has been filed, and is currently going on at the Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC). It was Adv Aires Rodrigues who had filed a complaint stating that IPSCDL had “recklessly dug the roads in Ribandar, endangering the lives and property of residents.”
In his reply to the complaint, Chaudhuri had admitted that pipes like water pipes and telephone cables of the residents had gotten damaged during IPSCDL’s digging. He attributed this to “inadvertance.” He stated that these were restored, and “every complaint was addressed to the complete satisfaction of the citizens of Ribandar.”
