Are the traffic jams along the Zuari bridge going to be a daily affair? And does anyone care? For the 4th successive day, motorists had a harrowing time negotiating the Margao-Panaji/Vasco via Zuari bridge route. This time there were no accidents to blame, neither was it the weekend rush. In the traffic chaos and madness spread across hours, the landscape was in a state of freeze, packed with vehicles, and a 45-minute journey could end only in a painstaking four hours.
Who then is responsible for this mess? If the roads are in bad shape, should PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar not stand up and set things right? After all, there needs to be responsibility fixed. We recollect the excitement and smiles on the faces of legislators when they break the sacred coconut to roll out road works.
The agony of waiting in these serpentine traffic queues for three to four hours on the trot are never experienced by our ministers, including PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. They have convoys to make way for them, while the common man has no one. Even the police force is hardly visible to enforce road discipline. Life of the people on the roads is not smooth as that of our home minister who heads the police force, or that of our PWD Minister who is in charge of our road works.
We don’t require police force at every meter, but a strong presence is definitely needed in view of the fact that roads on either side of the Zuari virtually resemble a dirt track, with sudden turns and twists which keep changing frequently like the English weather. People are in a hurry to reach their destination, whether it’s work or an emergency and this is the reason they are seen overtaking and rushing ahead resulting in even more congestion. The least government could do is regulate traffic by deploying additional police force.
Our PWD Minister has still not understood the agony that one is exposed to on this route. The road at the start-point of Agassaim bypass is in ‘the pits’. There are craters formed which run over one foot deep, not just potholes. And yet nobody cares. Lest we forget, the Chief Minister had promised to hotmix roads once we have dry weather. The dry spell has come and gone, so has the CM, but road conditions have turned from bad to worse.
We understand that Dhavalikar is recuperating from an undisclosed ailment, but if he had the gumption to rush to the Legislative Assembly to lend strength to the dwindling coalition government numbers, he should have no issues in making a field trip to inspect the pathetic condition of roads across Goa, not forgetting Calangute, Sinquerim and Arpora.
Agreed there are compromises to be made when major infrastructure projects like these are taking shape, but how long should citizens continue to endure such torture? Don’t blame the people for road indiscipline and give excuses. Come up with alternatives and practical solutions since this is going to be a long haul. This is a very crucial route where patients often have to be rushed to GMC and the same route is used by thousands of employees engaged at Verna Industrial Estate.
It’s time Goans understand and accept the inherent problems within a system. No matter which government rules, our roads are never here to stay, only the potholes are.
