Hard up Mapusa council asks power dept to restore market roads

Responding to the council's plea, the electricity department has agreed to undertake the repair work within the next 10 days.

The market roads were left in a state of disrepair after being torn open recently to facilitate the laying of the underground cabling network in the city. The closure of the trenches post-cabling led to significant dust pollution, causing inconvenience to both shopkeepers and visitors frequenting the market.

Addressing the issue, a senior official from the power department assured that all roads in the market would be patched up to mitigate the problem of dust pollution.

“Since the dug-up trenches have to settle down, all the roads in the market will be patched up with full grout. At least the problem of dust pollution will be reduced considerably. The work is expected to begin in the next 10 days,” the official told 'The Goan'.

Last week, the MMC formally requested the electricity department to promptly address the severely damaged roads. They also highlighted the need for repairing the drains, which may have been affected during the underground cabling project. Following a joint inspection of the market by civic authorities, councillors, and electricity department officials, it was revealed that several drains had incurred damage during the cabling process.

In a recent meeting in the municipality between Power Minister Sudin Dhavlikar and the public, the minister assured the public of comprehensive road repairs in Mapusa within eight days. However, the Public Works Department (PWD) clarified that only the patch-up of dug-up trenches would be undertaken for all city roads, refusing responsibility for repairing the market roads.

"The repair of market roads will need to be handled by the Mapusa Municipal Council," stated a PWD official.