Team Herald
VASCO: The residents and shopkeepers of Queeny Nagar and surrounding areas in Velsao-Pale on Saturday heaved a sigh of relief after the PWD engineers assured them that access via the existing Major District Road (MDR) will be restored after the completion of work.
The assurance was given following a joint site inspection by officials and engineers from PWD, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the police, Cortalim MLA Anton Vas, and local residents, who had protested against the NHAI's sudden closure of the road access on Thursday.
Former PWD executive engineer Joaquim P D’Souza from Velsao-Pale and during whose tenure the land was acquired for the construction of MDR said that the NHAI had no jurisdiction over the road and criticised the PWD for its silence as the access was closed and road was dug up. The NHAI overstepped its authority, he said.
Vas said that the PWD has assured the residents that it will provide four-metre wide road access. He said that due to sudden closure of the access, residents and shopkeepers from Queeny Nagar and also from Zuarinagar were affected.
The MLA further charged that the NHAI contractor damaged a PWD water pipeline, causing hardships to the residents for three days and said that he had asked the PWD to repair the damaged pipeline immediately.
Former Velsao-Pale-Issorcim sarpanch and builder Agnelo Alcasoes demanded to know who permitted the NHAI to close the road and cut a busy MDR road. Where was the PWD when NHAI was digging up the road?
He said that the road should remain open for the use of the public. Former panchayat member Roquezinho D’Souza said that the closure of the road caused hardships to the people and that he sought the local MLA’s help to resolve the issue.