MARGAO
The busy Margao Residency-ICICI-Fatima Convent-Margao police station road was choked with serpentine queues of vehicles during the school peak hours on Thursday noon, once again bringing to the fore the core issue of addressing traffic blues in the heart of the commercial capital.
In fact, movement of traffic had literally come to a halt on the busy road between 1.15 pm to 1.30 pm, the peak school hours. A couple of traffic police personnel struggled to handle increasing traffic near the four-road junction near the Fatima Convent-Loyola School-Police Station junction. And, with increasing numbers of vehicles on the roads in view of the incessant rains, with parents driving their wards to the schools, traffic congestion is literally the order of the day on the roads in and around the school complexes in the heart of the commercial capital.
The traffic police have implemented a host of temporary measures to streamline the traffic flow during peak hours, but it has not given a big relief to the traffic during peak school hours.
The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the schools close for the day around the same time, causing congestion. In the past, the traffic police and the authorities had mooted staggered timings for the schools, but in vain. In fact, the issue of staggered timings was discussed at the PTAs, but a solution eluded the authorities simply because there were parents who complained that staggered timings will only force them to wait to collect their wards studying in different schools.
Traffic DySP, Dharmesh Angle said the police will discuss the issue of staggered timings with the school managements for better management of the traffic flow. “We will study the traffic situation during the peak school hours before approaching the school managements,” DySP Angle added.
TRAFFIC CONGESTION: PARENTS URGED TO ADOPT ‘CAR POOLING’
MARGAO: With parents tending to bring their vehicles on the road during rains to drop their wards to the schools, the traffic police has made a fervent plea to the parents to adopt “car pooling” to avoid congestion on the roads.
DySP, Traffic Dharmesh Angle said students from the particular housing society can be dropped to the school in one or two vehicles if the parents coordinate with each other. “We are facing this problem of increasing numbers of vehicles on the road during rains with parents who tend to drop their wards in their four-wheelers. If the parents resort to car pooling, wherein they coordinate and drop their wards in one or two cars, the traffic load around educational institutions will certainly reduce, giving relief to the parents and the general citizens,” he added.
