PANAJI
A move to spruce up and beautify an underpass pathway connecting the multi-level parking facility at Patto with the terminal building and jetty for Mandovi river cruise boats has inched closer to fruition.
On Tuesday, a Bench of the Bombay High Court at Goa, comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Hiten Venegaonkar, took the proposal, among a bunch of other traffic decongestion measures presented by the government, on record in a 2024 suo motu matter related to Panaji's traffic plan.
The project proposed by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) involves connecting the multi-level parking facility at Patto with the riverside terminal building and boarding jetty for the Mandovi river cruise boats, where tourists throng, through the underpass for pedestrians.
The underpass already exists but is not pedestrian-friendly and is hardly in use, prompting the GTDC to propose its improvement and beautification instead of an earlier plan to build a pedestrian overbridge to cross the twin Patto bridges from the parking facility to the jetty.
The issue was taken up by the High Court of its own motion back in 2024, taking cognisance of the traffic congestion and chaos witnessed at either end of the twin Patto bridges, which are a widely used entry and exit point for vehicular traffic to and from the city.
On Tuesday, Justices Menezes and Venegaonkar fixed the next hearing for September 28, with instructions to Amicus Curiae Nigel Costa Frias to place the proposal and other measures, with or without modifications, on that day.
