Margao: Even as the BJP’s South Goa unit spokesperson Sharmad Raiturkar assured that repairs of the bad roads in Margao would commence from Wednesday, Shadow Council for Margao convener Savio Coutinho issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the authorities to attend to the roads or face their ire.
Briefing media persons, Sharmad complimented all the persons and organisations that had raised the issue of the bad roads in Margao that were washed away within less than 6 months. He informed that the BJP had also taken up this matter with the chief minister and PWD minister on Sunday.
“We have been told that the chief minister has instructed the PWD to start the repair works within 48 hours which means from Wednesday,” Sharmad said and thanked the chief minister and PWD minister for conceding to their demand that the roads be repaired before Ganesh Chaturthi.
“We have also asked the ministers to conduct a thorough inquiry into how the roads that were done up barely six months ago got washed away so soon,” Sharmad said adding that if the contractor is found guilty he should be blacklisted.
“If the engineer who supervised the road work and sanctioned it to have been done as per the set standards is found guilty, then, stringent action should be taken against him or her because they have to work with responsibility and clear bills responsibly knowing that it is public money that is being spent,” he said.
Sharmad also pointed out that the road from KRC station to District Library has not been asphalted even though the work order was issued last year and demanded to know who was stopping this work and why.
“If there are politicians who are indulging in politics, then, we demand that action be taken against them too as this bad road is causing lot of problems for people with many two-wheeler riders meeting with accidents,” he said.
He also demanded that RITES role be investigated as this agency is supposed to check the quality of roads and wondered how the roads would get washed away so soon when the agency had cleared the work.
Sharmad complimented the Shadow Council for Margao that had raised the issue of the road earlier and practically demanded the same things that the BJP had asked the ministers to look into.
Meanwhile, serving a 24-hour ultimatum on the government to attend to the roads in Margao, Coutinho said that the Shadow Council for Margao will take to the streets if the dust pollution in Margao due to the bad roads is not stopped immediately.
He lamented that the work of collecting the loose material on the road was carried out only for one day following which the same problems persisted with the road being slippery with the gavel on it and dust rising every time a vehicle passed by.
He castigated the authorities for their failure to take advantage of the three days dry spell to carry out the repairs of the road.
