As per the Centre’s mandate the Smart City Mission ended on March 31 after 10 years. It is claimed that from the Centre’s perspective, most of the work is completed and only finishing touches remain.
The Taad Maad road near Caculo Mall at St. Inez was closed for a long time and remains incomplete due to certain complexities. In all these months, no solution was found to resolve the issues faced during construction. It is claimed that the 18th June, Atmaram Borkar, Pandurang Pissurlekar and Rua de Ourem roads were never under the Smart City Mission but are the responsibilities of the Public Works Department (PWD), because of the central drains that run through these roads. It is outlandish that when the Smart City Mission could dig and re-dig most of the roads the above orphan roads were left untouched because of conflict of interest with the PWD. There seems to be no coordination and cooperation between the different government bodies “ Smart City Mission, PWD, electricity, traffic, etc.
Visit Panaji, see for yourself, cross your fingers and as a skeptic hope that the authorities adhere to the extended date of May 31 to give the ‘finishing touches’ and not finish off whatever is already completed. The Smart City Mission has become a ‘dating game’ with extension after extension being sought, obtained but not adhered to.
