If anyone ever wanted to know why coastal roads shouldn’t become highways or get widened, he should have visited Candolim during the 3-day long weekend starting January 26. Thanks to an outpouring of domestic tourists, who on their bikes and in their cars were driving recklessly, Candolim resembled Mumbai or Delhi more last weekend. The erstwhile quaint and beautiful village of Candolim wasn’t even a reflection of its earlier self during those three days.
Why is that so? MLA Michael Lobo has worked at improving the infrastructure of his constituency in the last six years. As a result, main roads in most of Calangute, including Candolim, are in good condition. Moreover, several stretches of these roads have been widened as well.
Road widening per se may not be a bad idea, but, it has suddenly multiplied the number of tourists visiting Candolim. Because the road access has improved considerably, the number of new hotels coming up is alarming there. The moment you have hotels, you have tourists, you have taxis, you have new shops and you have hawkers. And, all of this, put together, has badly affected the vibe of Candolim.
Public-Works-Department (PWD) Minister, Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar, has time and again supported Bharatmala project under which several coastal roads are expected to get widened to become national highways. Although, it is not clear yet whether coastal roads will get widened or not, but, there is compelling evidence on ground to suggest that these roads should not be widened.
The State government must realise that tourists come to the State because of its different vibe. By widening roads, the government will badly affect this very vibe, which could also see tourists not coming to Goa in the long run.
In fact, even for locals, constant widening of roads is not advisable because it will attract a certain kind of traffic, which they are not used to and it will totally change their way of life.
In developed countries like US and Australia, the village councils themselves vote against road widening saying that wider roads will only attract heavy vehicles and trucks, which they don’t want. Perhaps, Goa can learn a lesson from these countries.
It’s also high time that we stop looking at problems in isolation and start taking a holistic view of the situation. A certain village may for one reason require a wider road. But, before widening the road, it has to be analysed how it will change the vibe of the place, how it will change the kind of traffic there and how locals and tourists will get affected by the change. Or otherwise, the state government will create more problems for future while addressing present day issues.
