The workers involved in a gas pipeline work damaged three 33KV underground electricity cables in Vasco thereby disrupting the power supply to the entire Mormugao constituency and parts of Vasco. These localities were without power supply for 22 hours. It must be said that road-digging by contractors has on several occasions also led to damage to underground water pipelines which resulted in water supply being cut off to the households in the area. This is the result of a lack of coordination between the various departments like the PWD, electricity and civic bodies. It is observed that many a time newly tarred roads are being dug up ostensibly for some sewerage works. With proper coordination between the various departments, the roads can be hot-mixed only after the digging for sewerage related work is completed. In Goa, it is mandatory for any organisation, government departments, government undertakings, private bodies, local bodies or any individual who is desirous of undertaking earth digging to obtain written permission from the authorities concerned. It may be recalled that in August 2011, there was a major fire incident in Vasco after a contractor damaged a Naptha pipeline while undertaking digging work. Contractors who are assigned the task of digging need to be provided with a layout of the various underground pipelines including water pipelines and underground electricity cables where the digging activity is to be carried out.
