MARGAO
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai and party supporters descended on the Damodar Linga junction, Fatorda on Thursday morning to protest against what they termed as sabotage of road works worth around Rs 22 crore by the BJP government.
Traffic was thrown out of gear along the main road entering the city from Arlem as supporters of the MLA squatted at the junction, demanding that PWD engineers order the contractors to resume work on the projects.
The MLA and Fatorda police station in-charge, PI Kapil Nayak came face to face over the road blockade and were engaged in heated arguments in full public glare for quite some time. Travellers on the busy road were also engaged in heated arguments with supporters of the Goa Forward over the disruption of traffic. A lady could be seen yelling at the Fatorda MLA, saying a pregnant woman travelling in a car for a check-up has been stranded in the vehicle because of the blockade.
There was another instance of an agitated lady rider questioning the women supporters of the Goa Forward for traffic disruption. An attempt was made to blank the electronic media from covering the hardships faced by the commuters, with party leaders pointing accusing fingers at the BJP for the situation.
The scene later shifted to the nearby PWD head office when the MLA along with his supporters descended in the complex. He demanded to know from PWD SE Sanjay Volvoikar why the contractors were ordered to stop work on the projects. “The PWD SE has denied that the ongoing work has been stopped, but I have information that the works have been stopped following verbal directions from the Vigilance,” Fatorda MLA told the media.
Volvoikar later told the media that no work has been stopped, adding that hot-mixing works would resume depending on the availability of hot mix.
Sardesai, however, warned that people of Fatorda would hit the roads everyday to demand that the 22 projects are executed on priority. “This is the first time that people have come on the roads to demand execution of roads, while people in other places are opposing the works,” he added.
