Smart City mission served stop work order

PANAJI: North Goa collector, Levinson Martins, on Wednesday, issued a notice to Imagine Panaji Smart City Development (IPSCDL) asking the Smart City mission to stop all digging activity immediately in the capital since no prior permission had been obtained.
The notice was issued after several roads around the city were dug up, but it appears that Martins issued the order only after the road outside the North Goa collectorate was also dug up.Several parts of Altinho, where senior bureaucrats and government officials reside, have also been dug up.
“It is reported that you are carrying out digging works of various roads all over the city without displaying boards with necessary information, for which it appears that no permission has been obtained from the competent authority,” Martins’ notice reads.
The notice has also been sent to Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP), the principal chief engineer of PWD and Panaji police station to ensure IPSCDL officials comply with the order.
“You are hereby directed to stop the digging/excavation at public roads forthwith in the city of Panaji,” Martins says in the notice, while reminding IPSCDL officials that two notifications issued by the state government make it mandatory for prior permission to be obtained from the collector before any digging activity commences.
“If you have obtained any permission, then you are directed to submit the copy of the same to this office, urgently,” said Martins. Later, speaking to TOI, Martins said that the district level road digging coordination committee, which he heads, had not issued any permissions to IPSCDL.
Smart City officials, in turn, insist that PWD was digging the roads for CCP’s water supply project under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission (JNNURM).
“The Smart City office will meet the collector to discuss and resolve the confusion,” said chief executive officer Swayandipta Pal Chaudhuri. “There is some miscommunication and I will sit with all agencies and resolve it.”
While IPSCDL may not be excavating roads, L&T is implementing the Goa intelligent management system for which CCTV cameras are being installed and cables being laid.