PANAJI
There couldn't have been a better test for the quality of work than the rains that have battered and bruised the capital city which is on the road to becoming a 'smart city' or so the government claims.
Several stretches of the city's road network, much of it recently re-laid with a fresh layer of tarmac, have begun peeling off leaving gaping potholes for motorists to negotiate.
Additionally, there have been instances of small mudslides along the inhabited slopes of the Altinho hill, particularly in Mala, Alto Guimarães and Bhatulem.
It couldn't have been summed up better than how the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP), Rohit Monserrate, described the situation admitting to the city's vulnerability to heavy rains.
"There are certain areas where retaining walls have cracked. In certain other places there are no retaining walls at all. We have asked the Deputy Collector to make a report so we can then act on it," Monserrate said of the damage that has been caused in the capital city since the current spell of extremely heavy rains began on July 7.
One area that has seen continuous flooding is the Neuginagar area where large areas have remained water-logged for days. Monserrate along with the Deputy Collector and engineers of the CCP conducted an inspection of the entire area stretching from the Goa Handicrafts and Rural Small Scale Industries Corporation (GHRSSIDC) to the Four Pillars junction where several residential apartment blocks exist.
Monserrate said, once the report of the Deputy Collector is received, concerned departments like PWD and WRD will be roped in to resolve this flooding issue.
Interestingly, across the road from Neuginagar, the pump-house set up by the WRD bang in the middle of the Mala lake, has succeeded in resolving the decades-old flooding problems faced by residents in homes along the lake's periphery.
Former mayor, Shubham Chodankar, who represents the area, admitted that the pump house project of the WRD did resolve the flooding problem around the Mala lake but it was a mistake not to have paid attention to Neuginagar's problems on the other side of the road.
According to him, the overflow water of the Rua de Ourem creek is the reason for flooding especially since the swollen creek is full to the brim and overflows into the Neuginagar area. He said, raising the height of the retaining wall alongside the creek could resolve the problem.
CCP's patchwork
not holding up
Another major problem in the capital city caused by the heavy rains is that carpets of tarmac which were freshly laid after the 'smart city' sewerage work was completed has begun to peel off leaving stretches of the road network across the city pot-hole ridden and a nightmare for motorists to negotiate.
With the wet spell refusing to relent, officials of the PWD and the CCP are left with no other option than to resort to patching up the potholes with mud, rubble and road metal.
Teams of the CCP have been seen working on temporary patch-ups but continuous rain is rendering all their hard labour useless as these patch-up jobs are getting washed away within a couple of days.
Half-done pavements
confine seniors indoors
Panaji's residents, especially seniors, have got confined to their homes over most of the last fortnight as walking in the city has become dangerous due to incomplete footpaths taken up for redevelopment under the 'Smart City' project.
Pedestrians and senior citizens have faced the brunt with the pavements incomplete and dangerous to walk on.
Officials of Imagine Panaji Smart City Development (IPSCDL) had claimed that work would carry on to complete these footpaths but other than mounds of interlocking tiles dumped along these pavements, there is no sign of any work to complete the unfinished pavements being taken up.
