MAPUSA
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s 48-hour deadline to repair pothole-ridden roads has missed its mark, with motorists across the State still grappling with miserable road conditions.
The intense rainfall over the last few days has left contractors and Public Works Department (PWD) engineers struggling to keep pace with CM’s assurance.
While the PWD and contractors blame the rains, residents argue that the annual crisis is less about the weather and more about chronic neglect, poor planning and a cosy contractor-bureaucrat nexus.
A ground check by The Goan in Bardez on Thursday revealed that key roads continue to be in miserable condition despite the government’s assurances.
The Arpora-Nagoa road, dug up before the monsoon to lay a 33 KV power line and hastily resurfaced, has broken down again.
Motorists here are forced to zig-zag between potholes.
In Calangute, the stretch from the police station to St Alex Church has degenerated into what locals now call the “chocolate road” -- a slippery mess of mud and rubble left behind after patchwork repairs dissolved in the rain.
“It’s a joke on the people. They fill potholes with stones and mud just to show activity and the next shower washes everything away,” said a shopkeeper near St Alex Church.
“Every year the same story, and yet no one is held accountable,” he added, visibly frustrated.
The Saligao-Pilerne industrial road is in no better shape, riddled with gaping potholes, while sections of the NH-66, where the elevated corridor is under construction, resemble an obstacle course.
In many stretches, motorists are forced to crawl, swerving between broken patches at risk of accidents.
Meanwhile, despite a public holiday on Thursday, officials scrambled to fill potholes with stones along Ganesh immersion routes – a token gesture to save face before devotees took idols for visarjan.
A PWD engineer, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted that the system itself is broken.
“We are pushing contractors, but in heavy rains it is almost impossible to patch roads. The truth is, repairs should be completed two months before monsoon. Without that, this yearly drama will continue,” he said.
The candid admission underlines the failure of planning that has become routine in Goa.
Roads are dug up for utilities just before the rains, re-laid in haste and then collapse within weeks.
Contractors face little penalty, while residents bear the brunt of crumbling infrastructure.
With the CM’s 48-hour deadline reduced to a public relations stunt, the only certainty is that Goa’s roads – year after year – remain a symbol of broken promises.
