MARGAO
Children were back to the Margao schools on Monday after a month-long vacation to start a new academic year, but almost all old issues concerning traffic and parking came back to haunt stakeholders, including students, parents and traffic enforcement agencies.
Traffic bottlenecks were literally the order of the day, right in the heart of the commercial town, near the Comba railway level-crossing and the Subway and the Presentation School near the South Goa District Hospital for want of any solutions to the traffic and parking issues plaguing the city.
Traffic personnel attached to Margao Traffic Cell headed by PI Gautam Salunke had a harrowing time in regulating the flow of traffic around the Loyola High School-Fatima Convent School junction near Margao police station.
Overcautious parents were seen holding their children while crossing the congested junction to ensure their safe return.
Traffic blues near
Virginkar pump
While the city went without any major traffic blues when the schools reopened in the morning, with parents dropping their wards near the educational institutions, trouble began as usual when the schools were closed for the day, throwing all traffic at the police station junction haywire.
Even as hundreds of students from Loyola High School and the adjoining Fatima Convent High School came out mid-morning, bumper-to-bumper traffic was witnessed all along the Virginkar petrol pump-Woodland Hotel-police station road.
Issues discussed at the Margao municipal traffic and road safety committee meeting and suggestions made by representatives of the schools for regulation of traffic had no bearing on the ground on Day-one of the school reopening.
Comba rail crossing
& Subway junction
A student crossing the tracks at the Comba railway crossing when the level-crossing was closed for train traffic showed the hardships being faced by the student community to make it to the schools during peak school hours.
In fact, when the level-crossing was closed for traffic on Monday morning just before the new academic year could begin, one could find students crossing the tracks to make it to their respective schools.
The situation reminded one of the tragic incident couple of years ago where in a girl student was hit by a running train as she was trying to cross the tracks when the level-crossing was closed.
The adjoining Comba Subway, which has outlived its utility since its commissioning around a decade ago, came in handy for the parents to drop their wards at the educational hub.
Traffic congestion was the order of the day near Damodar School when traffic coming out of the Subway trying to take a U-turn to take the ring road to head towards the Old market circle.
Though a high-level meeting was held by Margao MLA Digambar Kamat with PWD officials to ease traffic congestion at the Subway junction by having a separate road for the traffic taking the ring road, the ground reality has remained unchanged.
Double parking woes on
Presentation School road
The traffic situation along the Presentation School road adjoining the Hospicio South Goa District Hospital was no different on Day-one of school reopening.
Fervent appeals made by parents to authorities to stop double parking on the road apparently fell on deaf ears. For, double parking was the order of the day on the Presentation School road on Monday, aggravating the traffic situation.
Parents told The Goan that authorities should step in and ensure there’s no vehicular parking on the Presentation School road. “Vehicles are always found parked on the road since early morning. And, when the road is being used for double parking, the situation aggravates. We have drawn the attention of the authorities, but in vain”, remarked a parent.
