The incident took place while Panaji Mayor Surendra Furtado was on the Weeding machine along with six more occupants taking a round of St. Inez Creek but apparently due to load the weeding machine tilted on the one side and despite of all the efforts to save himself Mayor fell into the creek but fortunately he was rescued unhurt.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”] This is one of the most unexpected events that took place on this Sunday morning at Panaji. According to the sources, the Mayor of Corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) was in a round of a St. Inez Creek (Nallah) along with few others when this unforeseen incident took place.
There were more than six people including the driver on the Weeding machine taking a round of St. Inez creek. Mayor was seen happily waving looking at the camera. While the vessel reached the end point of Nallah it started tilting on the one side where Mayor was standing.
Looking at the situation he tried to climb on the other side of the Weeding machine but the load became unbearable and the Weeding machine turned turtle. All the occupants on the board fell into the murky water of the Nallah.
According to the sources, Mayor was demonstrating the use of Weeding machine to media people that are deployed for cleaning the St. Inez Nallah as a part of cleanliness drive undertaken by the CCP. This machine mounted vessel is used for cutting the weed from the creek.
The sources claimed that there were around seven people on the vessel out of which four fell into the water including the Mayor of Panaji city. The vessel was meant for carrying only two people said the sources and it was overloaded due to which it turned turtle throwing everyone into the murky water. It was just a minor accident and there is nothing to worry about, I am safe and unhurt. The incident happened just at the bank of the creek,” Mayor told the media.
Meanwhile, the Taleigao MLA Jenifer Monserrate, wife of Taleigao heavyweight Babush Monseratte came on the incident spot after hearing about the accident. She pointed out the mistake of people who were on the vessel saying that the vessel was made for only two people. “It is very unfortunate that the machine has capsized in the Nallah and the entire thing happen due to mistake of taking so many people,” Said Mrs. Monseratte adding that “This machine is not made for the people to take a joyride and check Nallah but it is only made for the operator and the helper.”
According to Mrs. Monseratte, if there was a need for checking the Nallah then only one person could have gone instead of six people on the machine and that’s the reason it has been capsized.
She further said that she had informed the Mayor earlier to not to take more than two people on the machine. “I have just heard about the incident and I was not aware that Mayor was on the vessel. In fact, I told the Mayor when he called me in the morning to not to take more than two people. But in spite of that, he took about six people and finally this unwanted incident took place. I am glad that none was hurt in this accident,” Mrs. Monseratte told the media.
Source: Various sources
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