TimesView The lackadaisical attitude of the civic authorities and the apathy towards citizens safety has endangered lives of people on the roads. The promise of pothole-free roads have always remained in paper. In the monsoon, it is aggravated by the difficulty in judging the depth of the puddles, leaving riders vulnerable to accidents. It is the duty of the government to enforce the pre-monsoon no-digging rule in letter and spirit and ensure that all dug up roads are properly tarred and not just a shoddy patch-up by filling them with mud. The state must also deploy dedicated officers to supervise road works. PANAJI: Despite the state government prohibiting digging of roads during the monsoon, agencies blatantly flout the law. What makes things worse is that the latter fail to cover the dug up portion properly. Last week, Inacio Pereira and his wife Andrea, who fell into a dug up section of the road, filed a complaint with Old Goa police. Police have filed an FIR against PWD officials. The couple escaped with minor injuries.On the evening of June 6, the couple was travelling to Bambolim on their twowheeler when, at St Cruz, Inacio rode into an innocent looking puddle little knowing that it was a pit created as a result of some work carried out on that stretch of the road.Duo blames sloppy work for injuriesIn his complaint filed at Old Goa police station, Inacio, 40, stated, “An employee of the PWD water supply department carried out work of cutting the government road without permission or tender and he did not fill the same properly.” Andrea, in the complaint, has alleged that two PWD employees undertook “substandard work” which led to their injuries. Both Inacio and Andrea sustained severe bruises.“The road had been dug up and then haphazardly filled with mud,” Andrea said, adding that rain had caused the filling to partially sink and partially run-off, leaving behind a pit. The accident occurred at 7.25pm. Police have registered an FIR under Section 283 of the IPC, which deals with ‘causing danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation’. Other sections applied are 336 and 337, which deal with ‘endangering life or personal safety of others’. North Goa collector Nila Mohanan had issued a notification prohibiting “digging and cutting of all types of roads, including national highways, state highways, major district roads, road-shoulders, lanes and thoroughfares during the monsoons” since these could cause endanger the lives of motorists, pedestrians and general public and hamper the flow of traffic.Mohanan said her office has not received reports of this incident.

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