MARGAO
Overnight heavy rains and gusty winds lashed the State bringing respite from the scorching heat but not before it served as a wake-up call for the Disaster Management Authority as well as authorities handling disaster incidents.
Consider this. When a branch of a road side came crashing down on a goods container at Sirlim in Dramapur village brought heavy traffic on the National Highway No 66 to a halt early last week, many must have hoped that the disaster management would take a cue and start trimming of the branches along the 3-4 km National Highway, between Dramapur-Sirlim-Chinchinim-Sarzora-Cuncolim.
For, branches of these road side trees have been precariously hanging close to the highway, threatening to fall down in the event of cyclonic winds and block the highway.
What was feared all along came true on Thursday morning after overnight heavy rains and cyclonic winds. A couple of branches of trees and a coconut tree, besides an electric pole along this stretch disrupted traffic on the highway.
Heavy traffic had to take diversion, while two-wheeler riders were seen taking the narrow internal roads along these villages to reach their destination, throwing up a moot question -- why has the disaster management authority not pruned and trimmed the dangerous trees along the stretch when the panchayat bodies and citizens have been knocking the doors since the last three years.
The Chinchinim village Panchayat led by Sarpanch Valentino Barretto had been making correspondence with the district authorities in the hope the authorities will act to ensure tree fall does not block traffic on the highway.
Based on the petitions received from the panchayats, the Mamlatdar in Collectorate, Jeetendra Bugde in April last had written a letter to the Deputy Collector-II, informing that his office is receiving representations from the panchayat bodies on the dangerous trees in their respective jurisdiction, requesting the office to take further action in order to avert any untoward incident.
Bugde also wrote to the deputy Director of Panchayats, South around February last to instruct the panchayats to take necessary action under the provisions of section 76(1) of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act.
Says Chinchinim Sarpanch Valentino Barretto: “We have been asking the district authorities to cut the trees or trim branches to avoid repetition of the incident when a huge tree had fallen on the NH66 three years, blocking all traffic for over 24 hours. No one seemed to have taken cognizance of the danger posed by the overgrown road side trees”.
He added: “When the NH 66 was blocked last week, we thought the disaster management authority would direct the National Highways to trim or cut the trees. Last night’s cyclonic winds is an eye opener for the authorities to initiate action”.
When The Goan contacted, PWD, National Highway Executive Engineer, Dattaprasad Kamat to shed light on the delay in trimming the trees along the Dramapur-Cuncolim highway stretch, he said the PWD will take a call on the trimming of the branches.
“This stretch of the highway is proposed for expansion. Automatically, trees lining on the highway stretch will go at the time of expansion”, Kamat said, adding that the PWD will think of floating a tender to engage an agency to undertake the work of trimming branches.
