Editor, Goemkarponn
AERIAL VIEW
Consider this calculation, a road laying actually costs Rs 100 cr, but the PWD deliberately increases the estimate to Rs 150 cr so that the ministers. Then the tender is given 15-20 per cent above the amount, so it becomes almost Rs 200 cr.
Now despite the work being tendered for Rs 200 cr, the contractor carries out the work for just Rs 75 cr by compromising the quality. So who is to be blamed here?
Bad roads are the bane of Goa, but people seem to have learnt to live with them and not complain. However, the mood changes when the rains set in, when they become a major problem.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
Some time back just happened to see a social media post wherein there was a call for naming the roads after the contractor, whoever builds them so that he does not compromise on the quality of roads.
But looking at the condition of roads in Goa, not just the contractor but the Chief Minister, Dr Pramod Sawant, would have to decide that roads be named after the contractor who built them and the minister under whom it was sanctioned. Along with the name of the contractor/ minister who built them, addresses and phone numbers must also be mentioned. Isn’t it?
With this, at least, the quality of roads will improve effectively.
If not the contractor, the minister will ensure that the road is well maintained so that his name is not spoilt.
Consider this calculation, a road laying actually costs Rs 100 cr, but the PWD deliberately increases the estimate to Rs 150 cr so that the ministers. Then the tender is given 15-20 per cent above the amount, so it becomes almost Rs 200 cr.
Now despite the work being tendered for Rs 200 cr, the contractor carries out the work for just Rs 75 cr by compromising the quality. So who is to be blamed here?
Bad roads are the bane of Goa, but people seem to have learnt to live with them and not complain. However, the mood changes when the rains set in, when they become a major problem.
Amidst the corruption in PWD road laying, experts and members of the public say there is an urgent need to display the name of the contractor who undertook work on every newly-laid road for the sake of accountability.
The whole issue was raked up by Revenue Minister Babush Monseratte, who wrote to the Chief Minister demanding a Vigilance probe into the potholes that have developed months after the newly laid hot-mix carpet.
He apologized to the people of Panaji for the substandard quality of hot mixing of roads by the PWD department.
“I have written to the Chief Minister of Goa Dr Pramod Sawant, and the PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral to conduct an Inquiry against the officials responsible for the roads’ bad quality. I am sure that the Chief Minister and PWD minister will look into this issue on a priority basis and reinstate all these roads as soon as possible,” he wrote on a social media message.
While Babush has written to the PWD Minister and CM, the PWD Minister has blamed the rains and said he has already initiated an inquiry into the potholes issue.
But it is high time we stop blaming each other.
The office of the Chief Minister and PWD Minister
must hold the officers and officials liable for the
loss to the exchequer for the conditions described above
of the road, as per CCS Rules, since they failed to
perform their duties in due diligence.
Babush and Cabral have just stopped short of blaming Deepak Pauskar, the former PWD Minister, for the mess.
We also understand that the current enquiry, either by PWD officials or the Vigilance, would lead nowhere unless there is an independent probe. Because the entire system becomes so corrupt, every officer connected with the project benefits in some way or another. Hence, the truth would never come out.
Instead of the drama of probe, why not black-list the contractor straight away so that he never gets another contract in the State?
So also the ministers and the officers should also be reprimanded and taken to task so that they do not indulge in corrupt practices.
