Commuters stranded for hours as chaos witnessed across several kms; office-goers worst hit
One lane of Atal Setu to open today
PANAJI: In a late night development, one lane of the Atal Setu - Porvorim to Margao/Ponda will reopen from 9 am, on April 6, to ease traffic congestion, the Chief Minister’s Office informed.
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PANAJI
The morning rush hour turned into a nightmare for commuters on Wednesday as the ongoing unplanned Smart City works and the abrupt re-closure of Atal Setu escalated the vehicular traffic chaos to several kilometres within the capital city till Porvorim, Merces, Bambolim, Taleigao and several other internal connecting lanes.
The AI-integrated traffic and security system also remained shut. Chaos ensued on the road stretches causing a major inconvenience, particularly to office-goers who arrived late to work. A minimum 40-minute to one-hour delay was reported at various workplaces including government offices as the situation was nothing short of a traffic apocalypse with bumper-to-bumper vehicles moving at a snail’s pace.
“We are now paying the price for the ongoing road works and closure of the Atal Setu,” said one of them. The temporary halt of real-time traffic updates at Merces junction (until the works on Atal Setu are complete) and non-effective traffic management only added to the chaos, leaving commuters frustrated and helpless.
“The traffic situation is getting worse day by day. Why are the authorities not taking the responsibility to complete the task without rendering much trouble to the citizens? Why are people taken for granted by these same elected representatives who come to our doors seeking votes?” an employee with the Prisons department, lamented.
Several commuters even took to social media to vent their anger.
“Entire traffic management collapsed at Divja Circle, Patto-Panaji due to the closure of Atal Setu. Not a single cop present for the management of traffic. Or perhaps they cannot manage traffic. At least depute traffic personnel during peak times!” Advocate Harshal Desai tweeted.
The two Mandovi Bridges also faced traffic chaos with some bike users using footpaths as an additional lane. Vice President of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Goa Valmiki Naik slammed the absence of traffic police claiming that even the ambulance was stuck. “Just another day in Smart City,” he commented.
“Around 6-7 traffic cops were always seen on either side of Atal Setu daily. With the closure of the Bridge for the past many weeks, where have they disappeared? If the same cops were seen throughout the highway from Merces to Porvorim, we wouldn’t be witnessing traffic jams,” another Twitter user “Allen Ji” said.
“Complete brainless management of traffic at Panaji and Porvorim. Can’t the blocking roads start after the morning office rush hours are done?” another commuter Orville Monteiro tweeted.
The situation slowly returned to normalcy only around the afternoon. The traffic snarls were still visible on the two Bridges, and the morning’s chaos returned to haunt the netizens in the evening hours.
The Goan tried connecting with the Traffic Department and the Collectorate for their comment on the prevailing situation, but they remained unavailable for comment.
