MARGAO
For the first time in recent history, the Margao Municipal Council on Tuesday closed the Aquem ring road, between Aquem Power House junction to the Margao Fire station, to stop unscrupulous elements from dumping waste along the ring road.
Barricades were set up on both sides of the ring road by Margao Municipal Council at around 7 pm, the time wherein the road will remain closed every day up to 7 am in the morning. The Aquem ring road is sought to be closed for traffic from dusk to dawn every day till May 2023.
MMC officials led by the Sanitary Inspector, Viraj Arabekar struggled to stop traffic on the busy road for want of traffic police or police protection. The Margao Municipality also did not deploy the security personnel to man the barricades on both sides as a result of which motorists forcibly removed the barricades.
Making matters worse for the MMC officials and workers was the absence of illumination on the ring road. While the government has installed lamps along the ring road as part of the beautification plan, the Power Department has still not switched on the lights, apparently waiting for the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to do the honours during his visit to the site to lay the foundation stone for the four lane Rawanfond bridge later this month.
Even as the civic workers struggled to man the barricades as per the district Collector’s order, the barricades had to be removed to make way for a fire tender to attend to an emergency call.
Sources in the civic body informed that the entire exercise may go in vain if the MMC does not deploy security to man the barricades to enforce the Collector’s order on road closure.
While the district Collector had accepted the Margao Municipal proposal to close the ring road from dusk to dawn, Collector Jyoti Kumari had imposed a host of conditions, including the condition that the MMC should deploy its own manpower to man the entry and exit points of the ring road.
For, the traffic police, while submitting its no objection for closure of the ring road stretch at Power house junction, has categorically informed that it would not be possible to deploy police personnel to man the entry and exit points since the Traffic Cell Margao is facing acute shortage of staff for daily duties.
In fact, the district Magistrate has directed the civic body to make own arrangements to deploy personnel at both the entry an exit points with reflective jackets, with a further direction to involve additional manpower/ machinery to complete the work in shortest possible time.
