MARGAO
The Aquem-Baixo village Panchayat has knocked the doors of the District Collector, Anjali Sehrawat, seeking her intervention on the desilting of drains along the main Rawanfond-Quepem road saying the PWD has abdicated its responsibility to clean up the drainages.
In a letter to the District Collector, Sarpanch Siddesh Bhagat drew attention of the Collector to the flooding of drainages along the major road from Rawanfond-Quepem and from Rawanfond junction to Mandopa, with the flood waters entering the residential houses along the route for want of desilting.
While making a plea to the Collector to take up the work of cleaning the drains as soon as possible, the Sarpanch has threatened to stage a protest on the road.
He also drew attention of the District Collector to the damaged condition of the roads due to multiple digging work carried out by BSNL and Jio even after the May 15 deadline to stop such works.
“When we requested the PWD engineers, they claimed they cannot clean up the drainages since they are in receipt of a memorandum from the Principal Chief Engineer stating that local bodies should clean the highway or major road side drainages and also remove the potholes on the roads,” the Sarpanch said.
He, however, pointed out that PWD memorandum has not yet reached the panchayat body, adding that it’s practically not possible for the panchayat to get the drains cleaned up at this point of time.
