The gridlock witnessed across Zuari Bridge and the adjoining highways is likely to be sorted soon, thanks to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s intervention from US. It is on the instructions of the Chief Minister that Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma, DGP Dr Muktesh Chander and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister accompanied by Traffic Police and PWD officials visited both sides of Agassaim and Cortalim junctions to get a first-hand account of the traffic bottlenecks in the area. The Inspector General of Police Jaspal Singh too has promptly issued a circular on traffic management plans along the Panaji-Margao highway.
With the induction of two platoons of IRB to man the traffic in addition to the existing force of police, traffic is likely to smoothen out. There is a plan drawn for road repairs. Co-ordination plans between various police personnel, PCR units, investigation officers and PWD have been put in place, and specific job responsibilities have been entrusted. For the first time, signs of optimism on smooth flow of traffic have surfaced.
But why did it take so long for authorities to react? And why were measures not taken earlier to troubleshoot issues? Where was government machinery all these days and why was there no remedial action? The very fact that it required the chief minister’s intervention from US to set the necessary processes in motion speaks volumes of the lethargy and carelessness that has crept into our systems.
Two factors have been clearly identified as the stumbling blocks. One is the ongoing highway works and second is the complete lack of traffic management. And it was the Congress sideshow along the bridge on Thursday that added fuel to fire in more than one ways.
The team headed by Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar and Mahila Congress President Pratima Coutinho may have tried to drive a point by their protest walk along the bridge, and yes they have managed to catch the attention of those who mattered. But, motorists were made to suffer even more and serpentine queues only grew longer in the process. It would have made more sense if the Congress team could lend some help in regulating traffic to drive home their point.
It’s over a week that motorists along the Cortalim-Agasaim part of NH17 highway are undergoing extreme agony and while a solution appears to be in sight, Friday did not bring in much relief despite all the assurances and the fact that there was less traffic on roads due to a public holiday. While government machinery gears up, citizens will still have to wait and watch for their drive to smoothen out.
