Everyday we hear people of Goa complaining of bad roads. The capital city of Panjim is more in the news. I want to share the plight of Margao and surrounding areas which I have noticed during my last visit to Goa late August 2011. The highway road which bisects from Nuvem bypassing through neighbouring Fatorda and entering Goa Bottling area is like a lake. This road was perfect during my previous visit in May 2011. The junction road at Goa Bottling which passes through old RTO office straight to Gogol, Housing Board and onwards is another horrible sight. The junctions at Gogol, Housing Board and Power House where this same stretch passes is a sight never witnessed before. The road from Chowgule College to Borda is another nightmare. All these roads and more in South Goa were completely motor-able in May 2011and within a couple of months have been washed away. The reason is some of the perfect roads were dug just before monsoons on the pretext of hot mixing. Early June 2011 just below my building at Gogol junction one side of the road was scrapped for no apparent reason and hot-mixed in broad daylight when the traffic was at its peak and stopped after about 50 mtrs. Till today it is not completed. PWD engineers are blaming the ongoing monsoons for the roads being washed by rains. Ignorance at its height. From where these engineers get their certificates from? Certainly from the local municipalities. Was there no retention retained from the PWD contractors? Was there no guarantee obtained from these PWD contractors? It seems the PWD contractors have only 40% of the total contract value left in the end after bagging the contract to construct the roads and have to use substandard material to finish the roads. Where does the 60% go even before the road is being built? Even a stray dog knows the reason behind the sorry state of the roads in Goa. The roads are hot-mixed in a hurry this year because by the time the same exercise is conducted it will election time and code of conduct will be in force and not possible for any more commission till elected again. Very soon politicians will be coming to our door steps to promise us better roads in return for votes. Can we elect them in April next when the roads are good and dump them in August next when the roads turn bad? It is a known fact that on paper we goans have a government to rule the state, but governance is nil. Who is to be blamed for all this? We the Goans. God, Bless Goa and show Your Might before we are ravaged again by our own people.
Regards, Xavier Furtado
