PANAJI
Woes of residents and commuters in Panaji amid the disruptions caused by the ongoing work on multiple 'smart city' projects continue unabated as some of the damage on patched up roads caused by the torrential rain witnessed on April 20 is yet to be rectified at several locations more than a week later.
Continuous traffic logjams are being experienced in the area around the Panaji market, particularly in the area around the main entrance gate of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) market complex due to a foot-deep depression left unattended at a crucial spot on the T-junction as the picture of our lensman indicates.
Further south along this same road near the old Education Department building, workers have dug a trench right across the road once again, weeks after it had been patched up after sewerage work and laying of underground cables was completed.
Enquiries have revealed that that the trench has been dug up by workers at the instance of the CCP which is carrying out pre-monsoon work and building a cross-drain there, raising questions as to why this work could not have been carried out when the road had already been shut for over a month by the 'smart city' contractors.
Similar impediments to traffic flow are faced at several other road stretches of the city along the Dada Vaidya Road and the Atmaram Borkar road too where the damage caused by the April 20 rainfall is yet to be rectified.
Earlier, the Goan had highlighted quality and public safety issues after the redesigned pavements which were freshly lined with interlocking tiles under the 'Smart City Mission' had caved in at several places in the city.
The damage was visibly the aftermath and impact of the burst of rain which had almost the entire network of city roads flooded with shin-deep water.
