On account of utter negligence by the authorities, a part of the wall of the 388 year old Panjim-Ribandar causeway caved in at the Ribandar end.
This causeway which was once considered the longest bridge in Asia, and is perhaps India’s oldest has been in a perilous state for long. A part of this causeway wall towards the Panjim end had given way on the eve of Diwali last year.
Built in 1634 for horse-drawn carriages, it has withstood the devastation of decades with all sorts of heavy traffic. In fact in 2016, based on a report of technical experts, the then North Goa Collector Nila Mohanan had declared this causeway unsafe for heavy traffic.
But the government has slept over the issue for the last seven long years while the state of the causeway has been fast deteriorating by the day. It is literally hanging on borrowed time and now in a very dilapidated condition.
Before any major disaster occurs, it is now imperative that traffic movement be immediately restricted on this causeway.
