Faldesai wants two bridges for neglected Cumbarjua.
PANAJI: Upset at being ignored by the Gandaulim bridge that doesn’t actually connect to the village despite passing through it, the villagers of Cumbarjua have demanded that the Goa government build a new bridge, this time really for them and to provide better connectivity to the village.
Taking up the issue on behalf of the villagers of Cumbarjua, local MLA Rajesh Faldesai demanded that to alleviate the sufferings of the villagers of Cumbarjua, it was the need of the hour to construct two bridges — one of the connect the village of Cumbajua with Gandaulim via a bridge and another overbridge Daujim to help reduce the waiting time at the level crossing at Daujim.
“The people of the village who have sacrificed their lands for the new Gandaulim Cumbarjua bridge have received no benefit in return with the bridge completely bypassing the island and offering no connectivity whatsoever,” Faldesai said.
“The villagers continue to have to use the ferry to travel out of the island which is a huge convenience and speaks volumes of the lack of planning by the previous government when sanctioning a bridge worth hundreds of crores that is completely useless for the people of the village,” he added.
Similarly a flyover bridge helping cross the Konkan railway line at Daujim will help reduce the long wait times the villagers experience at the crossing, he said.
The Cumbarjua-Gandaulim bridge despite benign commissioned amid much fanfare by former chief minister Manohar Parrikar has made news for all the wrong reasons and besides being blamed for its poor design which in effect means that it offers no connectivity to the village it was supposed to connect, the bridge also began tilting to one side and required that the GSIDC take remediation work to help strengthen the arch of the bridge.
No one was held accountable for the fiasco.