Calangute: The Chogm Road near the police station in Calangute, which was recently hot-mixed, has been dug up again for the construction of a cross-drain. The same stretch has been dug and repaired at least three times in the past two years. Activists have termed the repeated digging and retarring a waste of public money.In March, the road was dug up just three days after being freshly tarred for the construction of another cross-drain. It was also excavated last Nov.Calangute sarpanch Joseph Sequeira claimed that Portuguese-era culverts existed at the site and were filled in when the road was constructed in the early 1980s. “The road had become uneven because it sank in a couple of places and we found that there were old culverts there which had been filled up. The road has only been barricaded on one side and there is no traffic problem,” he said.However, locals attributed the repeated digging to poor planning. Activists pointed out that one lane of the busy road remained closed for around a year for the laying of pipelines and underground power cables, during which the existence of the culverts should have been identified.In March, Congress workers from Calangute staged a protest at the site, stating that the closure of one lane led to severe traffic congestion on the remaining lane. “This is the type of unplanned development that is going on in the state under BJP govt. How can they dig a road so soon after it was hot-mixed? This is a complete waste of public money,” they said.AAP vice-president Manuel Cardozo also protested against the repeated digging. “People are unable to believe that a road which was hot-mixed just three days ago is again being dug up for building a culvert. How can they do this? There is absolutely no planning,” said Cardozo.
In March, the road was dug up just three days after being freshly tarred for the construction of another cross-drain. It was also excavated last Nov
