PANJIM: On Diwali Eve, the residents of Panjim were busy cleaning up their houses and surroundings, but the State’s capital city as usual remained untidy as dust filled the air on account of the roads that had been dug with the authorities showing no concern to at least provide some respite to Ponjekars on the festive occasion. People had a tough time in negotiating the pothole-ridden roads to catch a glimpse of the Narkasur effigies put up by the youth in and around Panjim.
The residents wondered if there was any point in cleaning the houses if the roads and streets remained dirty.
Be it the roads in St Inez or in the city, it was the same old story as the roads were dug, work was in progress, the gloom on the shopkeepers’ faces, who stared at the roads, hoping customers would visit them by climbing up and down the huge heaps of mud or stone chips.
Irked over the pathetic condition of roads, Harish Bhobe, a shopkeeper near Kismet Hotel in the city market, blamed the elected representatives and the government for the current mess.
He said, “They should roam on the city roads like general people, roam in the market and then they will come to know the real problem faced by the people. They come with escort vehicles which do not allow other vehicles to cross them when these VIPs travel. These vehicles of the VIPs run overspeed at 80-90 km/hr. How will they realise the problems of the common man?”
“The problem is that there is no point in making noise. The government departments blame one another but nobody takes responsibility. We pointed out the issue several times but nothing happened,” he said.
A shopkeeper in the Panjim municipal market pointed out that it is a pain to commute on the pothole-ridden roads.
“The roads full of potholes and the dust have made our life miserable. Even customers try to avoid visiting our shops,” he said.
Shashir Naik, a shopkeeper behind Hotel Fidalgo, expressed his anger and asked what type of Smart City work is this?
“The roads were dug before monsoon and they have been dug again. The work is on for over six months but it is yet to be completed. The workers are laying the tiles, removing them and laying them again. There is no proper planning. I had gone to the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) with a complaint that the tiles were not being laid properly. They do not inform us what they are doing and what they plan to do in future. After the road was closed for the Smart City work visit by customers to our shop is almost negligible,” he said.
Naik said he had complained to the IPSCDL that the contractor working on the road opposite Vishal Mega Mart kept a gap of three inches between the raised footpath and the shutter of his shop.
“This will definitely create water logging during rain and water will enter my shop causing damage to the material,” he said.
Another shopkeeper said the projects in the city are being undertaken just for the sake of making money.
“See the condition of the park nearby. It was renovated recently but is still not in use. Only the toilet is being used as it is chargeable,” he said.
Similar view was expressed by a shopkeeper at St Inez where the roads have been dug for almost a year and still there is no clarity when the works will be completed. The problem aggravates when the already narrow roads are open for two-way vehicular movement.
A resident pointed out that at least the contractors should ensure that water is sprinkled in the morning and in the evening to ensure that the dust caused by the movement of vehicles settles down.
“There is a TB Hospital in this locality. Patients are admitted there. The dust creates trouble for them,” a St Inez resident said.
However, social activist Kashinath Shetye said that it is true that the government should be blamed for the mess, but it is also important that people should take interest in the work and hold interactions.
“There is no people’s participation. They blame the authorities, but do not participate in interactions. People should suggest to the authorities if they go wrong,” he said.
With authorities silent over the timeline of the projects, the workers engaged in the projects said it will take at least some time to finish the works as these are carried out at different stages.