PANAJI
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral has directed the chief secretary to suspend the licence of a road contractor for two years, after taking serious note of shoddy work on the recently hot mixed roads from Divja Circle to the Secretariat and to Miramar which got damaged within the first few days of the monsoon.
Cabral directed the chief secretary to suspend the licence of the contractor C A Ibrahim for two years within the next two days and to cancel other works allotted to him.
“No new work should be allocated to the contractor,” directed the minister, while adding that no further payment be made to the contractor.
While calling for all documents related to the roadwork including bills, and the list of engineers and officials involved in the work, Cabral has directed that bitumen samples be analysed by the Goa Engineering College at Farmangudi.
A few days ago, Revenue Minister and Panaji MLA Babush Monserrate expressed his displeasure over the rapid deterioration of the roads and demanded action against the contractor and officials involved in the roadwork.
Taking serious note of the matter, Cabral had sought a report from the executive engineer (Works Division II).
The PWD Minister, however, observed that the report submitted by the Executive Engineer was “casual”.
"It is seen that the report submitted by the executive engineer is very casual, despite the issue being very serious,” noted Cabral.
"The road in the above stretches getting eroded with a few days of monsoon showers speaks volumes of the quality of the work, as well as the supervision by PWD officials,” stated the minister.
“No doubt, as per the contract clause of rectifying any defect during the defect liability period, the contractor is bound to carry out the rectification, it is a matter of shame that in the first instance such deterioration should occur on a newly resurfaced road and such poor performance cannot be justified,” stated the minister.
