IANS.
Panaji: The BJP government in Goa has been put at the end of corruption allegations after the road on Atal Setu, the state's first cable-stayed bridge, started to disintegrate and potholes started appearing on its surface. The Opposition is now slamming the government for the hasty manner in which the project got executed, IANS reported.
Meanwhile, the state administration has employed the IIT Madras to study and find the reason for the bridge's sudden damage.
The Aam Aadmi Party has alleged that the bridge located in Panaji ended up in ruins just three years after its inauguration, was because of the corruption involved.
The state PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral said that since the bridge was built by Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC), PWD cannot take over it for maintenance until the 'defect liability period' ends. On Wednesday, he admitted that potholes are there at places and added that his ministry is buying a new machine to mend the potholes in monsoons.
AAP responded to the minister's statement that the road on Atal Setu got damaged because of the use of substandard adhesive during its construction.
"The government has been fooling the Goans for the last two-three years by repeatedly fixing potholes," Naik said. "The only solution to this problem is to remove the existing asphalt and replace it with adequate adhesive," he added.
The Atal Setu was conceived by then Chief Minister of Goa and former Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. He himself inaugurated the bridge during his ailing days. In his inauguration speech, he had asked people, "How's the josh,"- the 'Uri' movie reference.
The project was finished at the cost of more than Rs 830 crore. But, in the past two years, potholes started to appear, and the same was raised by the Opposition.