MAPUSA
The painfully slow and unplanned digging carried out by the JICA/PWD to lay the sewerage line has reduced most of the roads to rubble in the town.
Now, a private telecom company has started to cut and dig roads in town to pile up additional misery on the locals.
Although locals living in the east, especially the people of Khorlim can now breathe easy after the roads in the area got a fresh coat of hot-mix recently, residents to the west have not been so lucky.
For the last three years, the ongoing sewerage works carried by JICA has left most of the roads in a pitiable condition, leaving the residents with little choice.
The digging, refilling and the subsequent patch up work has left most of the roads uneven giving motorists a harrowing time and the locals a headache. The ensuing dust due to incessant digging has only compounded the problem further.
At some places, the sewerage chamber covers have been placed good 10 cms above the road level, making it very difficult for motorists to negotiate the roads.
PWD Executive Engineer D K Shet has assured to repair and hot-mix most of the roads by May end.
“Sewerage work in Zone 1 (Khorlim area) and Zone 2 (market area) will be completed by March end or mid-April. We will take up repair of roads and complete it phase-wise and most roads will be hot-mixed by May end,” Shet said.
“Only roads in Zone 3 comprising Gaunsavaddo and Kamarkhazan will take some time and will be completed by June end,” he added.
A private telecom company has now started to cut and dig the Mapusa roads, ostensibly to fix underground optic fibre cables, further inconveniencing the general public.
Although the chief officer of Mapusa Municipal Council has issued all permissions to the company to use open and micro trenching and horizontal directional drilling techniques to lay the cables, the work carried out by the contractors has left much to be desired.
No proper safety procedures have been followed, trenches that have been dug has been left open for days together and the patch up work has been very shoddy.
“The telecom company has been carrying out a very slip shod work while laying the cables. I am not happy at all with the way they have been carrying out their work,” said Sandeep Falari, Chairperson of Mapusa Municipal Council.
He said he has been micro managing the ongoing sewerage work in the town along with the PWD and JICA officials. “Hopefully, most of the roads will be hot-mixed by May end,” he said.
