HC disposes plea after state assures to address pothole issue ‘continuously’

Panaji: The high court of Bombay at Goa has disposed of a petition where it was monitoring the repair of potholes on Goa’s roads and highways.
The high court disposed of the petition after advocate general Devidas Pangam told it that repair of potholes is a continuous process and that the state and its agencies are committed to addressing the same on a continuous basis.
Pangam stated that the issue of potholes has been substantially addressed and added that for the past one year, a practice has evolved where authorities concerned addressed citizens’ complaints on potholes where they usually take a picture of the pothole and send it to engineers.
“The concerned authorities/engineers are directed to act consistent with the statement now made by the learned advocate general before us,” the HC stated.
Pangam said action will be taken on the five stretches where there are potholes.
“Now that the issue has been adequately addressed and the learned advocate general on behalf of the state has assured this court that the process of attending and repairing of potholes would be undertaken on a continuous basis, we see no necessity to keep this petition pending any longer. Accordingly, we disposed of this petition,” the high court stated.
The PWD took the issue of dangerous potholes and uneven roads seriously and patched up stretches only after Pradeep Padgaonkar filed a petition in the high court seeking a court-monitored investigation into the complete wash out of the roads.
He had highlighted the “grave threat” and danger to the lives of motorists and commuters due to “negligence and dereliction of duty” in carrying out maintenance of public roads.
The high court then took it as a suo motu case.