PWD to be nodal agency to approve all road digging: Kamat

Porvorim: No more reckless digging of roads by different departments to lay utilities will be permitted in the state, PWD minister Digambar Kamat assured the House on Wednesday.

Within the next three months, PWD will be the single nodal agency to approve all road digging in the state for different works.He said that a coordinating committee under the PWD principal chief engineer was formed, which will meet at least once a month. Only works approved by the committee will permit digging of roads to lay utilities, Kamat said.He said that PWD executive engineers were instructed to send a circular to all departments, giving them a month’s notice before a new road is laid.

Kamat said the departments will have to lay the utilities within that month. If roads are dug after resurfacing is done, the PWD executive engineer will be held liable for the damage.The minister also said that the defect liability period for major roads will be increased to five years from the present three years, with the additional sum built into the contract terms. He said this will lead to better road maintenance.

“People think that roads are without any guardian and dig them as and when they wish. They don’t take permission before digging. If a PWD executive engineer fails to write to utility departments like water, sewerage, gas, telecom companies, etc, the executive engineer will be held responsible. Accountability will be fixed. If the engineer of the responding department does not reply, that engineer will also be held responsible,” Kamat said.He said that utility-laying departments were also told by PWD to provide their plans to lay any lines in the coming months, with the exact schedule for better coordination.MLA Krishna Salkar raised the issue during question hour, stating that PWD is presently clueless about other departments digging up newly resurfaced roads.Salkar said that PWD needs a comprehensive policy with a fixed restoration timeframe.Leader of opposition Yuri Alemao said that a common dashboard should be made to monitor all works of laying underground utility lines across the state.Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said that govt should carry out GIS mapping of utility lines, or else Goa faces the danger of an Indore-like water contamination situation in the future.Kamat said that govt already floated a tender to appoint a new agency in place of RITES to keep a check on road quality in the state.