Quegdevelim road caves in; closed for traffic

Reis Magos: Locals and fishermen from Coco beach area of Nerul village are facing a lot of inconvenience as the road which they use has been blocked for traffic at Quegdevelim after a portion of the road caved in, thereby developing a huge hole.

As per locals, the road stretch has suffered the damage as it is constantly being battered by rough sea waves and the retaining wall that has been built for the protection of the road is also in a bad shape.

Due to splashing of waves, the road surface has washed away and now it has developed a wide hole in which a car can easily slip into.

Locals informed that this road, leading to the Coco beach from Verem market, is a shortcut and hence used by many and such an incident of cavity formation has happened for the second year.

Three years ago the retaining wall was constructed and as per locals, due to substandard work, the retaining wall has crumbled with the impact of

strong waves.

Calangute traffic PI Salim Shaikh told this daily that he received calls from the locals about the incident. As the spot has become risky for people and is especially dangerous while traveling at night, “I have instructed police personnel at the site not to allow any traffic movement even two-wheelers as such the whole road is closed,”

he said.

This is the second year that the road has caved in; last year as well a similar incident had occurred with locals and fishermen from Nerul facing a lot of hardships.

Fishermen from Coco beach said that the road is a shortcut for them to take their daily catch to the fish market in Panaji and Mapusa and now as the road is totally blocked they have to travel via the longer route.

Sarpanch of Reis Magos Kedar Naik, when contacted, said that the retaining wall that was constructed three years ago by the WRD, has also washed away due to strong waves and now the road from Verem market to Nerul has suffered the impact.

The PWD has been asked to repair  the road at the earliest,  which they have agreed to do so, but the retaining wall is the job of the WRD which needs to be taken up on priority if not the whole road will be washed away and the same incident could occur next year as well, it was stated.