So far in this week, there are three eyeball popping news. (1) proposed flyover at the accident-prone Dhargal at a cost of Rs 46 crore. Cannot the accident-prone site at Dhargal be rectified without the need for a flyover that requires more money and cause inconvenience to the citizens? (2) An alleged amount of Rs 250 crore was spent to install 250 cameras during the Smart City project. Are these cameras coated with precious metals and have advanced technological features so as to warrant an expense of Rs1 crore each? (3) Rs 296 crore from the Centre to fix 15 black spots in Goa. Black spots are areas where over 3 years, five fatalities or 10 grievous injuries have occurred on a stretch of 500 m of a road. Do these black spots each of half-a-kilometre really need about Rs 20 crore for modifications? Why not consider the Dhargal area as a black spot and undertake remedial steps at Rs 20 crore, instead of constructing a flyover? The government of smallest State of India has appetite for crores of rupees for the above 3 projects but not a few crores to fill the craters and potholes that are ubiquitously ornamenting the roads in Goa.
