Pipelines damaged in 2nd landslide at Khandepar

PONDA: A second landslide in less than five day at Kerye-Khandepar along the Goa-Karnataka national highway on Friday only goes to highlight the unsafe nature of this stretch of road, especially during the monsoon. While there were no reports of any casualty, two water pipeline supplying water to areas from Khandepar, Usgao, Tisk and parts of Dharbandora were damaged.

The landslide occurred around 3.10pm, when traffic on the route is less. The site of Friday’s landslide is barely 400m from where Monday’s landslide occured.

Executive Engineer, PWD Road Division, Vijay Mardolkar said there is no danger in travelling on this road. A landslide, he added, was a natural phenomenon and, as such, this hill is marshy land, which can collapse during monsoon.

“Such small landslides happened even earlier during monsoon. Since the existing road touches the hill, soil collapses on it directly. But, the widened road will come in the centre and there will be no risk of such incidents in future,” Mardolkar said.

PWD has moved a proposal for acquiring another 20m-wide stretch along the hillside to facilitate reshaping of the hill from the present vertical incline to a more sloping one, he said.

Assistant engineer PWD Nivruti Parcekar said the pipelines that were damaged by a falling bouder were 250mm ductile iron one that supply drinking water to overhead water reservoirs at Mharvasaddo-Usgao and Pratapnagar-Usgao from where the water is released to Khandepar, Usgao, Tisk and parts of Dharbandora.

The pipelines were recently shifted to the extreme border of the widened road, Parcekar said.