PERNEM
A 28-year-old newly married woman died in a road mishap at Mandrem on Saturday sparking off anger among locals, who blamed the electricity department for digging the road to lay underground cables.
According to sources, Supriya Mhamal was riding her two-wheeler to work and moved towards the roadside to make way for an oncoming truck, when her two-wheeler slipped on a heap of mud. Mhamal fell on the road and was crushed by a vehicle proceeding from the rear.
Originally from Paraskadem-Pernem, Mhamal was married recently and was working in Mapusa.
Pernem police rushed to the spot and PI Dattaram Raut conducted the panchanama. The body was sent to the GMC hospital for a post mortem.
The accident occurred at a stretch where a portion of the road had been dug up by the electricity department. The work to lay underground cables was recently completed but the pits were not filled up properly on completion of the work.
Locals expressed outrage after the fatal accident with Mandrem Sarpanch Amit Sawant warning the contractor of consequences if the potholes were not filled by Sunday.
The Sarpanch has demanded the immediate filling of the pits to control further accidents.
“If the work is not done properly, the public will launch an agitation,” warned the sarpanch.
Prasad Shahapurkar told The Goan that the social organisation ‘Swaraj’ had submitted an appeal to the electricity department demanding signboards to indicate work in progress and to hotmix the road after the cabling work was over.
“But the electricity department did not pay any heed to this letter and the heaps of mud was lying on the roadside even after the work was over,” he said.
Local Panch Tara Hadfadkar expressed concern over such accidents and demanded hotmixing of the road which was dug up by the electricity department.
