PERNEM: The dangerous National Highway 66 would have taken lives of motorists at Malpem-Poroscodem, Pernem and at Mahakhazan, Dhargalim, both in Pernem taluka on Saturday, following two landslides.
Four occupants travelling in a Gujarat registered car escaped from the jaws of death at Malpem-Poroscodem, on the dangerous National Highway 66 when a boulder bounced over their car, after a landslide, smashed the retaining wall and blocked the highway.
O Heraldo had earlier highlighted the dangerous design of the low walls and the precarious and badly cut laterite mountain side which would pose a threat to the lives of commuters. The tourists hailing from Dapoli, Maharashtra were returning home following a visit to the State when the incident occurred at around 11 am.
The car driver Prakash along with three other occupants narrated his harrowing tryst with near death. He said one boulder fell just in front of his car, while another bounced a few inches over his vehicle.
Mission for Local president Rajan Korgaonkar, who rushed to the spot, questioned how such a low wall was built, when the mountain side was high and was badly cut posing a threat to motorists. The highway constructed by MVR Infra Projects Pvt Ltd had witnessed many fatal accidents and this dangerous landslide had put fear and trepidation into the minds of those travelling on this highway.
In the second incident, which also occurred on NH 66 at around 3.45 pm in a day, a boulder broke loose from the cut mountainside at Mahakhazan, Dhargalim, and landed precariously on the retaining wall.
On receiving the information, Pernem Deputy Collector Shivprasad Naik and PWD officials rushed to the spot. No one was injured in the second incident also.
Eyewitnesses feared that if the boulder is not removed, then it would roll on to the highway by night and could cause disaster.
An excavator which was brought to the site developed some problems and was being repaired.
Pernem MLA Pravin Arlekar and PWD engineers too rushed to the spot.
Later PWD engineers informed that the one lane of the highway would be closed and the traffic will be diverted via the old road till the retaining wall is reconstructed at Malpem.
The MLA instructed them to carry out the work of reconstructing the retaining wall on war footing and to take measures to prevent recurrence of landslides during monsoon.
Reacting to the issue, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Patkar demanded immediate FIR against the contractor and to blacklist him and to recover all damages.
Patkar said that they had been raising this serious issue for the last two years and the insensitive BJP government was playing with the lives of Goans. The Chief Minister should book a criminal case against the so-called ‘son-in-law contractor’ of the government.
Aldona MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira demanded that the government should take responsibility for the shoddy work as well and urged Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to initiate an investigation and blacklist such contractors who deliver death traps instead of delivering solutions for traffic safety.