A rider was crushed to death while the pillow rider was seriously injured on Friday after a truck at the Link Road leading to Mopa airport knocked down the scooter they were travelling on. The mishap infuriated people in the area, who set ablaze two cranes in the vicinity.
While the police assured compensation to the family of the deceased and eased tension, it has come to light that no compensation has been paid to the families of 22 people who have lost their lives in the area. On the contrary, no measures have been taken to ensure road safety along these treacherous routes of Patradevi, Torse, Malpe, Poraskade, Naibag, Dhargal, Sukekulan and the Vazari junction.
Since construction work on the flyover is in progress at the busy Mopa Link Road, the transport department should have deployed an additional police force or ensured adequate safety measures were in place. Locals have complained that there are no proper service roads, and the condition of the NH66 is poor.
It baffles the mind how an International Airport of this stature is left without proper road access for seamless traffic movement. For now, the taxis make, on average, 4,500 trips along these roads, and one can imagine the vehicular chaos happening on these narrow interior roads. That's not all. International flights will soon begin operations at the Mopa airport, and the traffic situation will only worsen. The monsoon will make it difficult all the more. How would authorities react if the situation spirals out of control and locals block the road leading to the airport?
Since the Link Road continues to be a work in progress, the onus should be on authorities to enhance road policing, undertake timely repairs of potholes and bad roads and put up signages at crucial points. Incidentally, the truck involved in the accident had no valid documents or vehicle fitness certificate, which reflects poorly on policing once again and exposes a lack of checks and balances.
There are challenges along that stretch of road, but shortcomings cannot be ignored. The carelessness in addressing issues that threaten the safety of citizens should stop, and authorities must be alive to the situation. The local MLA and police officer on duty have assured compensation this time, but compensation is not the solution to the loss of lives, and nobody should rest on the premise of compensation; it's inhumane and insensitive. Will authorities rest such issues on the basis of compensation?
While enough precautions have been taken in and around Panaji by installing AI-monitored traffic systems, accident-prone areas such as those along the Dhargal area have been neglected. We have a situation where motorists are conscious of violating the road rules since they are being monitored via cameras, but in far-flung areas, it has been a free for all scenario. Do the authorities need fatal accidents to wake them up from their slumber?
While planning for a futuristic traffic model, the transport department must consider such trouble spots. The safety of motorists is always paramount and a priority.
