MARGAO
A drive down the newly-hot mixed Comba-Cine Lata ring road would ensure a bumpy free ride. Health conscious citizens too now take this road for an early morning or evening walk along the smooth surface.
An abandoned corroded vehicle along the roadside, however, has turned out to be an eyesore. A couple of days ago, the same vehicle had come as an obstruction to the hot mixing work as it was lying abandoned right on the road alignment. The traffic police had lent its helping hand to the PWD to tow away the corroded vehicle from the road and dump it on the roadside, indicating that the commercial capital is still plagued by the menace of abandoned accidents and corroded vehicles.
Indeed, the corroded vehicle along the ring road is just a tip of the iceberg, with dozens of accidents and other vehicles lying abandoned across the city. These vehicles have not only become an eyesore, but have come in the way of pedestrian pathways and smooth flow of vehicular traffic throwing up questions over the fate of the joint drive announced by the Margao Municipal Council and the Margao Traffic Cell in addressing the burning issue.
Otherwise, consider this. In October, 2020, the Margao Municipality in coordination with the Margao Traffic Cell kick-started a drive to reign in vehicles abandoned along the roadside in the commercial capital. The Margao Traffic Cell had compiled a list of around 100 abandoned vehicles spread across the city. Punitive measures such as impounding the vehicles and auctioning the same, besides action under the Motor Vehicles Act was contemplated by the civic body and the Traffic Cell to end the menace.
Sadly, the drive has failed to achieve the desired result, due to a host of questions. Owners not responding to the notices and the failure by the Margao civic body to allot dedicated space for parking of the abandoned vehicles have been cited as one of the reasons behind the exercise becoming a cropper.
Margao Traffic Cell in-charge, PI Gautam Salunke said after the Cell had issued notices after obtaining details from the Road Transport Authority, around 26 vehicles were towed away by the owners. “At other places, the abandoned vehicles have been lying as it is. They could not be towed away since there’s no dedicated space to house these vehicles,” PI Gautam said.
He added: “What is needed to achieve the objective is space to keep these vehicles once they are towed away. The Traffic Cell will again write to the Margao Municipal Council to make provision for land for these abandoned vehicles.”
What has further compounded the matter is that the city plays host to a large number of small vehicle repair outlets. For want of dedicated space, accident or repair vehicles, more often than not, are parked along the roadsides. Sometimes, these vehicles lay abandoned outside the scrapyards and the repair outlets for months, with the law-enforcing agencies dragging their feet to crack a whip for reasons best known to them.
A senior Margao Municipal engineer conceded that the drive against abandoned vehicles could not be taken to its logical conclusion for a host of reasons, the prime reason being lack of dedicated space to house these vehicles after their removal.
