Cracks on two minor bridges of Char Rasta-Mashem four lane road puts safety of commuters in jeopardy.

Goemkarponn desk

Canacona: Normally public infrastructure including roads are built to last a minimum of fifty years but if one looks at the cracks on the underside of the two minor bridges at Ponsulem and Rajbagh it raises serious concern amongst locals here with questions being asked about the longevity of the 7.74km newly commissioned bypass road linking Char Rasta with Mashem cutting down the travel distance by 10km.
When Goenkarponn.com had reported last week about the development of multiple cracks on a minor bridge near Molyma Hotel at Rajbagh a team lead by Assistant Engineer Subash Pagui had rushed to the spot to verify the extent of cracks and how serious the cracks were to the structural stability of the bridge.
Before the authorities could ascertain the extent of the damage these cracks may pose to the bridge, Ganesh Dhuri the same person who saw the cracks on this culvert found similar cracks on the other culvert at Ponsulem.
While informing about the cracks Dhuri said that the cracks are less in numbers compared to the culvert near Molyma but run across the length of the road and might be dangerous if left like that.
When this correspondent visited the underpass on Ponsulem to Patnem road, two cracks were prominently visible and one seemed to run little deep into the concrete slab.
Enquiries with the concerned department revealed that after it was reported on Goenkarponn.com of the cracks, officials of the local NH together with the consultant of the contractor inspected the bridge.
“The consultants inspected minutely the cracks by zooming the cracks on their instrument, they took photos of the cracks and inferred that the cracks looked to be superficial, they have instructed us to observe the cracks for next 15 days” informed a highly placed source from NH.
When informed about the development of cracks on the other culvert the same official informed that they checked all the culverts on the entire bypass road and didn’t find anything alarming, in the same breath he added that his department will keep an eye on this cracks.