NH 17 at St Cruz punctured yet again - ToI

NH 17 at St Cruz punctured yet again TNN | Oct 9, 2012, 02.19AM IST PANAJI: Highway administration officials were caught unaware on Monday about yet another puncture to national highway 17 at St Cruz. The stretch, known as Bambolim bypass, has already been perforated with several unauthorized links from the interiors of the village to NH 17. From Cabesa to Bondir on the western side of the highway, kutcha and even tarred roads connect to it on the one-km stretch. Private parties get away by indiscriminate puncturing of the highways to link their dwellings or business establishments. On the weekend, a private party laid a 100-metre long kutcha road from the dangerous slope at Cujira to Cabesa ward of St Cruz. "The materials were dumped at the site on Thursday and the work went on during the holiday on Friday and Saturday," a source said. The government had declared a holiday on Friday to mourn the death of former governor Kidar Nath Sahani. After North Goa collectorate received an oral complaint, Tiswadi mamlatdar Sudhir Kerkar rushed to the site and conducted an inspection on Saturday. "The work has been stopped, but the inquiry is in progress and we have asked for the papers," an official said. Apprehensions are being raised that the private party may block the drainage along the highway at Cujira. "We will not allow the blocking of the drainage," an official in north Goa collectorate said. A 13-metre stretch of the newly laid road, which is four metres at the intersection but narrows down further, has been laid in government property. A national highway administration official cited lack of service roads on either side of the national highway as the main cause of illegal links. "These punctures are unlimited, but it is due to a practical problem. Property owners adjacent to any road want to link up to it, after securing approvals for construction activity from town and country planning department," the official said. A puncture is defined as illegally breaking into a highway for an unauthorized ingress or access to it. The highway administration has an option of fencing the highway to cut off too many links, but four-laning it with a proper service road is the best solution. "One can imagine the impact of fencing the highway," the official said. The state highway has been developed over the years from a narrow road into a passage with a bigger carpet area. The new intersection at Cujira on the western side is on a treacherous slope, which already has a four-road junction a few metres ahead towards the north. Sources said more than 35 persons have lost their lives in accidents after the bypass was thrown open about two decades back, though the factors for the accidents may be different. Government machinery has failed to act against the illegalities in the past. TOI reported another unauthorized link of a 250 m long tarred road in an illegally reclaimed mangrove forest to NH 17 near Bondir in October 2011. "This is near a dance floor, which is also linked to the highway," a source said. "We had issued legal notice to the party for encroachment, but he did not reply to it," a highway administration official, conceding that the action stopped at that stage, said. Unplanned development along the highways in St Cruz and other stretches, especially near Mapusa river in Mapusa, has led to shrinkage of the natural waterways. "Drainages and natural reservoirs have to be maintained, but private parties have reclaimed them in Cabesa-Bondir stretch," Nandkumar Kamat, a villager said. The flow of aquifers from high ground into the Ourem creek has been stifled by haphazard reclamation. "No thought has been given to water resources as low-lying lands have been reclaimed to bring adjacent areas on par with the highway for setting up illegal activity, like furniture outlets," Kamat said. A highway administration official said they can clear illegalities only within the government property. "We have removed all hoardings within the restricted zone along the highways," the official said. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/NH-17-at-St-Cruz-punctured-yet-again/articleshow/16731670.cms