Goa: After ambulance journey, road contractor agrees to fix potholes

CANACONA: After repeated requests to get the potholed road repaired failed to yield any result, locals opted for an out-of-the-box solution.
The locals on Monday made the road contractor lie down in an ambulance like a patient and drove him over the potholed-ridden stretch from Canacona primary centre to Nagarcem.
"We wanted to show him how inconvenient and painful it is for the public and patients in particular travelling on this stretch," the locals said.
After the drive, the road contractor said that he would undertake the works before October.
In recent weeks, the government and the PWD in particular has come under fire from citizens across the state for the poor condition of the roads. Many even took to social media to vent their ire. Last week, after the public outcry, PWD minister Deepak Pauskar asked people send photographs of potholes with a Google map location via WhatsApp.
The contractor had dug up the road from Chapoli dam to Sristhal water treatment plant for laying a new pipeline. Due to heavy rain, the stretch developed potholes making life difficult for commuters. The locals lodged complaints with PWD and national highway authorities, but no remedial measures were taken.
Road contractor Laxmi Constructions had told the people that repairs work would be done during a dry spell, but had failed to deliver on his assurance.
On Monday morning, local activists - Janardhan Bhandari, Pralay Bhagat, Vikas Bhagat, Mithil Chari and Aashish Phaldessai - approached the contractor and questioned him about the road condition. After he after failed to provide a satisfactory reply, they put him in an ambulance.