Activists say road safety is in crisis, seek public safety audit
MAPUSA
Taking serious note of the increasing number of road accidents and fatalities in the State, civil society group Citizens for Democracy Goa (C4D) on Friday expressed grave concern over the deteriorating road safety standards, calling Goa the emerging “accident capital” of the country.
The group has demanded immediate intervention from the government to stem the rising tide of deaths and injuries.
Addressing the media at the accident site where Narayan Abhyankar, Under Secretary in the Law Department, lost his life recently, C4D leaders Elvis Gomes and Pradeep Padgaonkar alleged widespread irregularities in road design, engineering and construction.
They claimed that poor execution and lack of compliance with safety norms had severely compromised the lives of road users across the State.
Padgaonkar recalled that he had filed a PIL in 2019 over deaths caused by potholes, which was dismissed by the High Court following the State’s claim that it was filed for publicity.
“Since then, the situation has worsened. Accidents are being reported every single day,” he said.
Referring to Abhyankar’s death, Padgaonkar added, “When a government officer dies like this, the system should be in overdrive to make corrections. But no one seems to care.”
Gomes, meanwhile, lambasted both contractors and the government for flouting legally binding safety norms under National Highway Project guidelines.
“Work zone traffic management plans are mandatory. So is a traffic-worthy pavement surface. These have been completely ignored, as seen in the substandard alternative road surfaces,” he said.
He pointed out glaring design flaws at several junctions, including Bastora, Peddem and the Goa Medical College underpass.
“The government should verify the credentials of the principal designers and publicly share whether safety norms were followed,” he said.
Gomes also stressed the need for stricter contractor accountability, stating that no payment should be released without a geo-tagged video report showing the real-time road conditions and safety measures taken in the past seven days.
Alleging deep-rooted corruption and collusion between contractors and officials, C4D claimed that such a nexus enables negligence to continue unchecked.
Earlier in the day, the C4D team, led by Gomes and Padgaonkar, visited the family of late Narayan Abhyankar at Colvale to offer condolences.
