IPSCDL misses court deadline for Taad Maad road completion

The ongoing work at the incomplete stretch of road from Taad Maad temple to the STP, Tonca.

Photo Credits: The Goan

PANAJI
While most of the work related to the 'Smart City' projects has been completed, barring the green-scaping of spaces in several locations, the troublesome Taad Maad junction remains unfinished, with the crucial road stretch between Caculo Mall Junction and the T-junction near the Goa International Hotel continuing to be shut.

Although the sewerage work in the area is completed, the concreting of a stretch of road between the Taad Maad Temple and the culvert-bridge at the Tonca Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) is yet to be finished.

Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) had sought, and was granted, time until May 31 to complete this work by the Bombay High Court at Goa.

The work had overrun the original deadline of March 31 set by the court, which led to the then IPSCDL Managing Director and CEO, Sanjit Rodrigues, IAS, filing the affidavit citing engineering, technology, and geological difficulties in executing work at 10–12 metres’ depth to seek more time.

Except for the Taad Maad stretch, Rodrigues had claimed that every single sewerage work and road work, as presented to the High Court, had been completed by the March 31 deadline.

Rodrigues, meanwhile, is no longer around after his transfer out of the State, and he has proceeded with his statutory IAS training in Mussoorie. A senior IPSCDL official said the inclement weather, with the monsoon hitting early, has caused a hindrance in completing the concreting of the road at the Taad Maad junction.

At least two to three more weeks will be required to finish the work and to throw open this stretch of road from the Caculo Mall Junction to the Goa International Hotel at Tonca, the official added.

Meanwhile, in the capital city, where sewerage manholes were built on roads, workers were seen carrying out finishing work to smoothen the bumps created by the manhole lids, which are either raised a few inches above the road level or below.