Due to sheer negligence by the authorities, the 387-year-old Ribandar-Panaji causeway which was once referred to as the longest bridge in Asia has been in a perilous state for long. That a part of this causeway wall has given way on Diwali eve comes as no surprise.
Infact in 2016, based on a report of technical experts, the then North Goa Collector Nila Mohanan had declared our causeway unsafe for heavy traffic and had ordered that traffic had to be stopped.
But the government has slept over the issue for the last six 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.
The authorities responsible must be held criminally liable for the willful neglect of this historic causeway. All that cosmetic repairs by engineering quacks has only been public money down the drain.
Before any major disaster occurs, it is now imperative that traffic movement be immediately be restricted on this causeway. The government must act swiftly to carry out necessary worthy remedial measures of this causeway.
