MARGAO
It was early Tuesday morning. Students from city schools were just pouring in at the Margao Municipal square to partake in the Independence Day celebrations. Waving Tricolours and shouting slogans, the school children celebrated freedom in their own way as the Tiranga procession wended its way around the Municipal garden.
Less than a kilometre away from the Margao Municipal square, school and college students heading to the Comba educational hub, literally looked forward for freedom “ freedom from traffic bottlenecks as they put their lives to risks to make it to their schools and colleges by crossing the railway tracks when the Comba railway crossing is shut for traffic and pedestrians.
Consider this: It was around 7.47 am on Tuesday, when a lone gateman manning the Comba railway crossing, closed the crossing for vehicular traffic to pave way for two trains to pass “ a railway engine and the Vasco-Culem train. The closure of the railway crossing, however, did not deter the students, both schools and colleges, from crossing the tracks as they were seen rushing to cross the railway tracks to get to their institutions on time.
A lone Home guard, deployed by the Margao traffic cell, at the crossing with the task of regulating traffic, stood as a helpless spectator as he could understand the plight of the students, eager and anxious to get to their schools and colleges before the crossing is opened and closed again for another train to pass.
That’s not all. Even as the crossing was closed for traffic, one could find serpentine queue of vehicles lining up on both sides of the railway gate, while others made it to the other side through the subway, which has long outlived its utility since it was commissioned over a decade ago.
Indeed, students studying at the Comba educational hub, which plays host to institutions right from KG to PG (Kindergarten to Post-graduation) have been facing the ordeal of crossing the railway tracks for years now. With the promised flyover at the Comba railway crossing yet to see light of the day, students as well as citizens seemed to have resigned to their fate of crossing the railway tracks.
A close look at the ground reality revealed both students and pedestrians do not take the subway to cross over to the other side. The reason is not far too seek: The subway has no provision for a safe pedestrian pathway, with the underpass apparently designed only for two-wheelers and light vehicles. “We are left with no option than to cross the tracks when the crossing is closed. Otherwise, we reach our institutions late. We only hope the government liberates the students from this ordeal”, remarked a girl student.
The situation in and around the Comba railway crossing turns chaotic when the schools close for the day. Deployment of a lone traffic policemen and a Home guard at the railway crossing and the nearby subway hardly provides relief as a result of students complain of reaching home late afternoon almost everyday.
CM’s promise to
build Comba flyover
While laying the foundation stone for the Rs 70-odd crore six-lane Rawanfond bridge in mid-May last year, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant assured Madgavkars in the presence of Cong-turned-BJP Margao MLA Digambar Kamat that a T-shaped flyover will be built at the Comba railway crossing on highest priority. The Chief Minister’s assurance was welcomed with a thunderous applause after he pointed out that the government would knock the doors of Union Road and Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to sanction funds for the Comba flyover. In furtherance to the CM’s promise, the office of the PWD Chief Engineer had sent a proposal to the Union Road and Surface Transport Ministry to sanction two flyovers “ one the Comba railway crossing and the other connecting the Margao ring road from Victor Hospital to La Flor hotel.
Sadly, while the Victor hospital-La Flor hotel flyover has been sanctioned by the Union government, the Comba crossing flyover has not found favour till date for reasons best known to the Centre.
Flyover work should start
now for relief in two years
If PWD officials, both retired and serving engineers, are to be believed, it is high time the government start the work on the Comba railway crossing flyover now in order to give relief to the student community and citizens in general two years from now. For, it has been pointed out that the proposed flyover cannot be built overnight and it may take at least two years, if not more, to complete work on the project. “In order to give relief to the students and motorists two years from now, work on the Comba crossing flyover should commence now. Otherwise, the student community will be subjected to the ordeal of crossing the railway tracks to make it to the educational institutions”, remarked a retired PWD engineer.
Fears are raised in many quarters that the situation will further aggravate when the frequency of trains running on the Margao railway increases after the commissioning of the track doubling project.
