Morjim-Ashvem route buried following landslide

MAPUSA: The heavy downpour on Tuesday and Wednesday caused a huge landslide in the coastal belt of Pernem, along the Morjim-Ashvem road leading to Mandrem, closing it for more than half-a-day. On Wednesday evening, around 8pm, boulders and large quantities of mud came crashing down from the hill by the main road, burying about 20m of the road and cutting connectivity between Morjim and Mandrem.

While no causalities or loss or damage to property was reported, electricity poles were uprooted, which added to people’s woes. Locals said recent commercial construction activities on the hillock had disturbed the natural flow of water downhill, which caused the landslide.

“Work (of clearing the road) started at 9am in the morning with two heavy earth moving machinery, from both the Morjim and Mandrem side,” Pernem deputy collector Sudhir Kerkar, who led the operation to clear the road on Thursday, said.

Kerkar, who had visited the site on Wednesday night, said that since there was no power and it night it was not possible to assess the gravity of the situation. Despite availability of earth moving machinery, work on clearing the road could not be commenced immediately as it was dark and raining heavily, Kerkar said.