Around ninety per cent of thePortuguese era mini bridges-cum-culverts along National Highway-17 from Balli,Polem and Canacona are on the verge of collapse and locals fear that ifadequate measures are not taken a serious mishap could occur.
Accordingto PWD engineers in Canacona, there are six such bridges cum culverts builtduring the Portuguese regime from Balli to Polem that need immediate attention.
These are located at Goddyavoll near Paddi, Poinginium Bazar onthe Kushawati River, Bhatpal at Tolpona River, Barcem near Khramal Ghat section,Gulem Bazar and at Mashem.
“If any of these bridgescollapse, we will be cut off from Karnataka and other states, as there is noother road link to the NH-17,” said Ramakant Gaonkar, chairperson of theCanacona Municipal Council.
According to the Poinginium village Sarpanch, Mahesh Naik, “Despite theBhatpal-Ardhofond culvert being nearly washed away during the October 2, 2009floods, no one bothered to inspect its load-bearing capacity or its presentstatus. Vehicles bearing several thousands of tons use it every day and thegovernment should take some urgent steps to repair these culverts.”
Bhanudas Gaonkar and Manoj Gaonkar both environmentalists from char-rasta claim that culverts onNational Highway-17 along with Barcem-Paddi, Goddyavoll have no safety barrierson either side and several vehicles in the past have gone over, causinggrievous injuries to humans, damaging vehicles and spoiling the paddy andsugarcane cultivation below.
Inthe past, pedestrians and even cattle have fallen off the culverts in theabsence of railings, informed Suhas Velip, former sarpanch of Shristall villagepanchayat.
Theage-old bridge at ‘Goddyavoll’ on NH-17 is almost on the verge of collapse.Here too, many vehicles have ended up in the river due to absence of railingsand a part of the bridge having collapsed. A temporary wooden fenceis erected on either side of the bridge.
Besidesthis, the fencing on the bridges at Paddi-Barcem and Poinginium is damaged andneeds urgent repair.
Dueto accidents, the Barcem-Paddi bridge fencing was renovated several times. Inthe process, the height and width of the fencing on both sides of the bridgewas increased. As a result, two vehicles cannot pass each other at the sametime. This has also resulted in traffic jams.
Speaking to The Goan, the residents of Poinginium,said that damage to a 16-m long bridge at Poinginium was noticed in 2000, butthe concerned authorities had failed to take steps to repair the bridge or toconstruct a parallel link.
