Goemkarponn desk
CANACONA: Stating government has no concerns for people’s safety, RGP (Revolutionary Goans Party) have demanded immediate safety measures at the accident prone Dumane Culvert ànd sanction of the long pending demand for a new Culvert bridge over Dumane rivulet.
A team of RGP led by its South Goa Lok Sabha Candidate Rubert Pereira was on Canacona tour visiting various places, highlighting lack of government measures on several issues bugging the residents.
The RGP team while proceeding to Agonda stopped at the Dumane Culvert, on noticing the broken side concrete walls which PWD had erected in place of the corroded and fallen culvert railings.
‘the concrete side wall on this culvert bridge has collapsed and government is not interested to address this. Are they waiting for more calamities to befall on the people using this road/bridge?’, asked RGP Canacona coordinator Prashant Pagi stating this bridge is known to be a dangerous one has a history of many mishaps particularly foreign national riding bikes skidding-over the bridge and also 4-wheelers jumping over the brdige, falling down fatally and or ending with grevious injuries.
The Dumane Culvert located at the sharp turn towards and from Agonda on the MDR-48 road, is known for several mishaps in the past with fatalities and grave injuries catching mostly visitors (tourists) off-guard while riding or driving along the road, due to it’s treacherous and dangerous location.
‘The approach to this bridge unilluminated) is so dangerous that riders and vehicles approaching from either directions goes over the bridge (which also have pipeline & Cables) and falls down in the rivulet. And it is precisely because of the situation, and the unprotected sideways, concrete walls were erected as protective railings to stop the falls and also speedbreakers are erected on a few metres before approaching the Culvert.
‘Due to the low quality works, the a large portion of side walls have collapsed and the culvert is once again exposed for accidents.how can’t government departments see it and take immediate corrective measures?, asked RGP South Goa Lok sabha candidate Rubert Pereira further staring some barricades or already done warnings to approaching motorists could have been erected/kept at the site.
‘Is this type of developments this government is doing?, why can’t authorities act swiftly in such matters?, Pereira.
A proposal to construct a Bypass road with a New Culvert straight on the road by doing away with the existing portuguese era Culvert bridge(which is on the sharp turn) is pending with the government for decades, even as twice in the past 10 years, works began but failed to proceed beyond the inauguration function.
In the event any mishap, will the government blame the unsuspecting motorists for falling to such chicanery?. There is not even lights to illuminate nor any traffic signal to warn of the impending danger while approaching the area. Who is going to do it and why this government is so much reckless playing with people’s safety and life itself?, asked the RGP.
Pereira also blamed the local body elected representatives for not remaining alert to such situations and demanding corrective measures from the authorities.
Incidentally, one side of Dumane Culvert comes under Shristhal Panchayat, while the beyond the culvert jurisdiction of Agonda panchayat begins. Land acquisition for construction of the straightened approach road and the culvert bridge itself is reportedly a bone of contention, and according to sources, a proposal is pending with the government for land acquisition under land acquisition act.-
