Margao’s traffic, road safety issues still stuck to backseat

Almost all the traffic and road safety issues staring the city remain unresolved since the first meeting that took place five months ago in December last year. The issue concerning the Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) surveillance cameras has not been fixed to date.

Unlike the last meeting, municipal engineer Lawande pointed out that Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar has agreed to fund phase-I of the CCTV project consisting of 58 cameras at around Rs 50 lakh. Neither has the engineer set the timeframe to implement the project, only saying the South Goa Collector will forward the project to the Information Technology (IT) department for tendering. He, however, could not shed light on how the Margao municipality or the government will implement the phase-II, III & IV of the CCTV project.

Bus stops

Though the city is plagued by unauthorized bus stops by public buses, especially along the entire stretch from the KTC bus stand to the city, the issue only found a casual mention at Wednesday's meeting.

RTO officials and Margao Traffic Cell in-charge PI Gautam Salunke participated in the meeting, but they did not unveil a road map on how to stop the buses from making unauthorized stops. On parking of buses along roadsides, PI Salunke said that the Traffic Cell had been issuing challans, virtually raising his hands in frustration over the violations.

Meet with educational

institutions fixed

The only positive outcome of Wednesday’s meeting is the decision to have a meeting with the heads of all educational institutions on May 26 ahead of the new academic year. The meeting was suggested by former councillor Ketan Kurtarkar, who contended that the institutions should be briefed on the traffic aspects, including traffic movement during the peak school hours, besides parking.

MMC Chairperson Damu Shirodkar later fixed the meeting with the heads of educational institutions, including PTA members.

Abandoned vehicles

It would be five months since outgoing South Goa Collector Jyoti Kumari had issued a proclamation in December requesting the owners to tow away the abandoned vehicles at public places or face action. Most of the vehicles, sources said, are lying at the spots identified last year.

When the question found a meeting at the MMC road safety and traffic management committee meeting, one of the officers defended the non-action for want of land to park the abandoned vehicles.

If sources are to be believed, the Traffic police have blamed the Margao civic body for the delay in action on the plea the MMC has still not identified the place to park the vehicles. Incidentally, GOACAN coordinator Roland Martins suggested that the authorities write to the Collector to earmark a plot at the industrial estates to park the abandoned vehicles.

Footpath encroachments

There’s still no solution to the footpaths encroached on by mushrooming vendors in the commercial capital. Margao municipal councillor Mahesh Amonkar drew the attention of the road safety committee over how the footpaths have been encroached upon by illegal vendors, forcing pedestrians to walk on the roads. Amonkar demanded to know who will be responsible if a pedestrian gets injured or dies in an accident while walking on the road.

Amonkar also raised the issue of unauthorized parking by sand-laden trucks below the Margao flyover at Sirvodem. Besides hampering traffic movement, he said the presence of the trucks has given rise to anti-social activities in the area.

Vehicular parking

MMC Chairperson has pointed out that around 1,000 two-wheelers are being parked every day opposite the KTC bus stand on the MMC-acquired land. He said the MMC does not benefit from it, hinting at introducing pay parking.

The MMC Chairperson did not shed light on the status of the parking plaza project executed by the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) at the old market land, which has been stopped by the civic body.

Roland Martins suggested MMC introduce pay parking on any one of the city roads to ensure orderly parking.