SALIGAO
Tourism Minister and Saligao MLA Dilip Parulekar said the tender for construction of flood protection wall at Tarir in Reis Magos has been issued and the work will start soon.
It may be recalled that Water Resources Minister Dayanand Mandrekar had laid the foundation stone for the construction of flood protection wall on May 9, 2015, in the presence of Tourism Minister Parulekar. However, it is over a year now that the work of flood protection wall has not commenced.
Sachin Satardekar of Reis Magos said several houses are located on the banks of Mandovi River at Tarir-Reis Magos.
“During high tide, the water reaches near the houses of the residents. The residents of the locality had requested the Reis Magos panchayat to construct a flood protection wall,” said Satardekar.
“Accordingly, a foundation stone was laid in May 2015, but the work has not yet started. It appears that foundation stones are being laid by the minister only for the sake of publicity,” said Satardekar.
When contacted, Tourism Minister Parulekar said construction of flood protection wall at Tarir is on his priority list. “The Water Resources Department will construct the flood protection wall of length 650 metres, at an estimated cost of Rs 1.87 crore,” he said.
“Tender for the project was floated on two occasions, but the contractors were not prepared to do work as the road leading towards the bank of the river was narrow, which would create problem for them in transportation of construction material,” he said.
“Now for the third time, the tender for the same has been floated and it has been issued. The construction work of flood protection wall will start soon,” he said.
