VASCO
Tension flared up in Mangor, Vasco late Sunday night, after locals blocked heavy vehicles following a road mishap which claimed the life of a 31-year-old rider at the Varunapuri Junction late Sunday night.
A visibly upset Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar accused the Mormugao Port Authority (MPA) of ignoring the sentiments of locals and warned that people may openly oppose the movement of trucks to and from the MPA, if the government does not arrive at a solution to this issue.
According to sources, Arvind Paswan, who was working in a defence organisation, was riding his bike when he was knocked down by a speeding Karnataka-registered truck loaded with coal moving from the port towards Verna. He was killed on the spot.
After the accident, a large number of locals gathered on the site and blocked the highway and did not allow the movement of heavy vehicles. They also demanded speed breakers or traffic signals to prevent accidents in the area.
Salkar along with Councillor Ameya Chopdekar rushed to the site and the situation was defused after Salkar assured that immediate preventive measures would be initiated.
Later speaking to reporters, Salkar said he had requested the people not to take the law in their hands and that a solution would be worked out to prevent accidents in the area.
"We have told the police, administration and the MPA so many times about the overloading and overspeeding of heavy vehicles moving from the port,” said Salkar.
“These loaded trucks are over speeding and the MPA is not bothered about locals and is doing what it wants. It is high time to openly oppose the movement of trucks of the MPA if the Government does not arrive at a solution on this issue."
The MLA said he had been frequently insisting on speed breakers in the area because this is densely populated area with labour class people who stand along the road looking for daily wages work..
“People are insisting that we totally stop transportation of heavy vehicles because they are fed up with regular accidents in this area. We need to have speed breakers immediately and measures have to be taken to control the speed of these loaded vehicles," said Salkar.
Salkar said he had spoken to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and had briefed him about the need to curb accidents in the area.
