Ignored by the rest of the State, unacknowledged by thebusiness media Ponda has quietly emerged as Goa’s goods and container transportcapital.
The cargo and container transporters chose Ponda as thetransport hub in the state due to the proximity of Kundaim Industrial Estateand the MRF factory. Ponda is also centrally located between North and SouthGoa and has good road access.
It’s ironical that despite transport business’ crucial rolein state economy, their appeal for a Transport Nagar in Ponda is gathering dustin government departments for the last seven years.
The transporters in Goa under the banner of Ponda GoodsTransport Association and the All India Motor Transport Congress under theleadership of Bal Malkit Singh had made a number of representations to thestate government to provide land to set up a Transport Nagar in Ponda, whichwould have facilities like parking, hotel, mechanic and other alliedfacilities.
“From Congress to BJP, no government has paid attention toour demand,” said the Ponda Goods Transport Association President, Syed YPasha.
Ponda Goods Transport Association, an apex body of cargo andcontainer transporters has more than 300 members. They are engaged intransporting almost 90 percent of goods required to the State and vice versa.
However, the State has failed to provide basic facilities tothese transporters. They are forced to park the trucks on the roadside. Furtherlack of toilet facilities, no rest room, and absence of common loading andunloading points are some of the various other hardships faced by them onregular basis.
“Only 10 percent of the truck operators manage to getparking facilities in private land. The remaining truckers have no other optionbut park by the roadside which is illegal,” Pasha said. Taking this opportunitythe traffic police regularly issue challans to the truckers, Pasha added.
Most leading transporters including VRL, Balaji, GhatgePatil transport have a common grouse -- lack of parking facilities andharassment by police. But they are helpless as the state government has turneda Nelson’s eye to the transporters problem.
“We are looking forward to the new government in the stateand if nothing materializes in near future then we would be compelled to launchagitation in form of “Chaka jam,”” Pasha asserted.
“The transporters are shipping almost all type of industrialand domestic cargo to and from the state. But the state is only worried aboutindustrialization and does nothing for the transporters who are facing ample ofdifficulties due to lack of facilities,” said Virendra Kumar Singh, the regionin-charge of VRL.
