A Panaji market road dug up for Smart City work.
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PANAJI
Excavators digging up the roads around the Panaji market area damaged water pipelines connecting to sumps of multiple high-rise residential buildings leaving residents without supply and fuming for the last several days.
The first of these breaches occurred in the middle of last week along the General Benard Guedes Road when a JCB excavator ruptured the pipeline connecting the main PWD supply line to the sump of the Seagull building.
Residents in several buildings downstream of this rupture also faced the brunt with no supply as the PWD had to shut the line to allow its plumbers to repair the Seagull building rupture.
Residents said they faced severe hardships for all these days due to lack of water. PWD officials said they were unable to make alternate supply arrangements to this area since there was no access for tankers due to the ongoing smart city work.
The woes of the Panaji market area residents got further prolonged when on Saturday another pipeline connecting the PWD's main supply line to another residential building closer to the market got similarly ruptured by a JCB excavator.
Residents however said, that the PWD officials swung into action following repeated intervention of local CCP councillor Lorraine Dias and have got the second pipeline rupture repaired on Sunday afternoon.
"Hopefully we will now start getting water from tonight or tomorrow morning," one resident told The Goan even as she alleged that the Smart City officials are going about their work without giving adequate notice to residents, many of who are stuck with their vehicles parked inside their building compounds and left with no option to exit as roads have been dug up everywhere.
The locality has at least a dozen high-rise residential buildings which are affected due to the ongoing work being carried out by contractors of the smart city project along the General Bernard Guedes Road from the Geeta Bakery junction to Inox where it intersects with the DB Marg.
Several other intersecting lanes and by-lanes have also been shut since February 9 and Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) said these roads cumulatively adding up to 1.415 kilometers will be shut for all vehicular traffic until February 28.
Apart from the General Bernard Guedes Road (535 meters) smaller stretches of other intersecting lanes and bylanes shut in the market area are: Costa Alvares Road from Alfran Plaza to DB Road Junction (200 meters) and the internal bylane behind the 2STC headquarters which connects the General Bernardo Guedes Road to the DB Marg (200 meters). Two more internal lanes adjunct to the Costa Alvares Road are also shut.
