PANAJI: The North Goa collector may have ordered the Smart City Mission to stop digging the city’s roads, but authorities appear to be turning a blind eye to the open trenches and digging by other agencies in other parts of the capital.Though the collector, Levinson Martins, said that Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited, (IPSCDL) was digging roads without precautionary measures, IPSCDL officials said that this was not true.Meanwhile, in parts of Altinho, all the roads have been dug up to lay optical fibre cables. The contractor has not displayed the name of the project proponent nor have permissions been displayed, if any, that have been granted by authorities. “The Smart City mission has not taken up any project to lay optical fibre cables in Altinho,” said managing director of IPSCDL, Swayandipta Pal Chaudhuri.At some spots, including one outside the chief secretary’s residence, protective barricades have not been installed. Residents stated that this poses a risk to students and senior citizens who usually go for walks in the morning or at dusk.Goa Civic and Consumer Action Network (GOACAN) had written to the authorities, warning about the extensive digging and trenching work, which GOACAN coordinator Roland Martins said, was being “negligently carried” out.The internal road leading from Altinho to Bhatulem has also been dug up with no contractor on site to explain why the road was being dug or who authorised the project. Vehicles were seen negotiating the winding and sloping road with difficulty because of the ongoing digging.As per existing norms, wherever any road is being dug, a display board has to be placed at such locations. Martins said that the board should display the name of the agency which has authorised the work, the name of the contractor who is executing the contract, the timeframe for the completion of the work and a mobile number as an emergency contact.The collector had convened a meeting on Friday with the principal chief engineer (roads) PWD, chief executive engineer (CEE) electricity department, manager of Goa region for BSNL and commissioner of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) to discuss the issue of the current road works in the city. The meeting has now been rescheduled for the coming week due to the 3-day state mourning declared in honour of former deputy chief minister Francis D’Souza.On Wednesday, Martins had ordered IPSCDL to stop all digging in the capital since no prior permission had been obtained. Smart City officials pointed out that it was PWD which was digging the roads for a water supply project through Japan International Cooperation Agency and that they were digging only small stretches in Caranzalem after following all procedures.

Stay updated with all the Latest Goa headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.