The horrific accident at Chimbel where a chemical tanker rammed into six vehicles and claimed one life once again brings to the fore a complete lack of sensitivity of the authorities towards motorists. It’s a crying shame that the administration wakes up only after mishaps like these. The deputy collector went into a huddle with officials to work out ways and avoid such accidents in the future. Directions were issued to the Mamlatdar, traffic police, PWD, RTO and police officials to conduct a site inspection and immediately submit a report. Even questions were being raised over non-completion of the flyover which nobody bothered
till now.
The road in question at Chimbel has been an accident prone-zone and the previous mishap was reported just a couple of days back. From installing speed-guns, signboard warnings of speed limit has now been proposed, but all these could still fail in a situation where vehicles are overspeeding, especially non-locals who are unfamiliar with the landscape. The faulty road engineering and pillars of the flyover are stumbling blocks for motorists and the government machinery will be required to pool its resources to do an immediate course-correction. Installing traffic lights and speed-breakers are crucial since there is a crossing.
Officials have stated that they are not in a position to erect speed-breakers on highways, but the fact remains that it is registered as a major district road and not a national highway. It goes to show that even the PWD officials have not studied the issue at hand. It is now proposed that police should be manning the spot round the clock. The only time we saw police being posted there was when Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s convoy is making its daily sortie to Panaji
and back.
It is pertinent to point out that while officials were seized of the accident, the status of the chemical-carrying tanker was overlooked. Tankers are known to transport hazardous chemicals at times and in a situation like this, taking immediate stock of the tanker and ascertain leakages if any was crucial since there were people at the site.
Poor condition of roads has been a major concern for motorists across the State and the PWD has only managed to give vague promises and timelines. If PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar is to be believed one more time, all potholes will be covered by December-end. The WhatsApp-a-pothole and the imported tar that the minister spoke of have failed to materialize. The concrete patch-work that was undertaken in some places was so badly done post-monsoon, that it posed even bigger risks to traffic. The roller-coaster drives continue and the PWD remains shamelessly exposed.
The tourism season is peaking and the flow of traffic will add to the agony of motorists. Let there be no more false promises, PWD can’t play with the lives of innocent citizens.
