New tourism season is just around the corner and the digging of the roads in Calangute – Baga stretch is yet to come to an end. According to the sources the digging is going on for more than three years to lay the sewerage pipelines across the coastal belt which is highly impromptu development initiated by the ruling government, but the ruling party representatives are blaming the earlier government for this state of condition. According to the sources Calangute MLA Michael Lobo has claimed that the “Mess is the legacy of previous government that failed to initiate any development work in the Calangute area due to brawl among the MLA and Panchayat Members”.
Micheal Lobo further said that “Work of the sewerage plant, Garbage treatment facility, Widening of the roads and News parking lot facility has been initiated only during the tenure of the ruling government”.
Meanwhile the contractor, Simplex Infrastructure had claimed to have applied the latest “Trenchless Technology” in this project to avoid the digging up of the entire road in future. The trenches of 50 metres have been made at the intervals to enable to insert the pipes underground. But somehow these trenches according to the sources are sinking continuously due to some “Technical Reasons”
The contractors are claiming that around 80% of the work is already completed and they will stop the work on the busy Baga road near the Tittos lane by the mid of November, when the tourist flow starts to swell up and will be resumed back only in the month of March 2016.
The sources have also claimed that the tourist and locals who commute on these roads have claimed to have gained the experience to participate in the “Off Road Challenge”. Now that the sewerage treatment plant is delayed by another year this dismal condition of locals does not look like ending anytime soon. Beside this, there will be more digging needed once the sewerage plant commissions, as that, will start the process to connect the Resorts, Residential complexes and establishments to the network.
According to the sources, former attorney of Calangute Comunidade, Anthony D’Souza is one of the many aggravated locals has now made up the mind to file the FIR against the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) for the delay of work he told the media that “I am in the process of drafting a complaint to file FIR for the delay which is causing unnecessary suffering to the locals”. He claimed that he had to replace the suspensions of four of his cars due to the extreme conditions of the roads in Calangute, “How much a common man can take? Our voice does not make any impact on the deaf ears”, he bawled.
Meanwhile, Lobo has claimed that, the roads in the Calangute area will be surfaced by the mid of November but, the new market complex, an educational hub and parking facilities are still on the table waiting for the execution.
The acting Sarpanch of Calangute village panchayat, Joseph Sequeira has assured that the meeting will be called on Monday to decide on the repairs and surfacing of the roads, he also said that they have already confronted the JICA contractors over the distressful condition of the roads in Calangute “We have been told that there is a shortage of laborers and machinery due to which the work is getting delayed”, he said. “According to the assurance given by the contractor the work was supposed to completed within two months time, but nothing has been done a yet. We have also filed the FIR but nothing happened yet”, he added.
When Goa Prism contacted the Congress Secretary Durgadas Kamat over this issue he said that “I have personally not seen the roads in Calangute. But yes, development should happen in each of the constituency in Goa. We should keep petty politics aside when it comes to development. The blame game needs to be stopped. BJP is in power for the last 3.5 years now. Now they cannot blame congress anymore. These petty politics needs to be stopped by the BJP”.
Calangute is already facing the loss of tourism business due to lack of infrastructure to cater the huge flow of tourist flocking every year to this beach destination, but it looks like this mess of roads will further escalate the problems. Blaming the earlier government for this mess is the only excuse which ruling government can exercise at the moment? Does the earlier government is responsible for this mess? Three years is not the small duration for laying the sewerage pipes in one town? The ruling government is talking about the setting up of smart cities in the state while small work of sewerage plant remains unanswered for three years? What is lacking here, proper planning or implementation? Please do not forget to leave your valuable comments and suggestions on this news article.
Source: Various Sources
Edited by Goa Prism News Desk
