Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said on Wednesday that the State administration was keeping watch on rescue operations in Mahad, where a bridge collapsed on the Mumbai-Goa Highway.
Making a suo motu statement at the start of the day’s proceedings in the Assembly, Mr. Parsekar said he has asked the Director-General of Police to find out whether any Goan was among those missing.
“Till now there is no information about Goans involved in the accident. We are in constant touch. We will do whatever is required.”
Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza said the government was likely to conduct a safety audit of the bridges in the State. “There is a need to audit the strength of existing bridges and roads. Most of the bridges were built by the Portuguese and are still in use.”
State PWD Minister Ramakrishna Dhavalikar said all bridges in Goa were safe. “We conduct regular checks of these bridges every six months.”
He said even the Portuguese-era bridges were found to be strong during regular checks.
Following a directive from Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, the Konkan Railway rushed a rescue team equipped with a self-propelled accident relief medical van, an accident relief train. A spolesperson for the Konkan Railway said its officials were in constant touch with the control room at Mahad.
