PANAJI
As per the Masterplan for Holistic Development of Panaji prepared by LKS consultants, nearly one lakh vehicles -- two-wheelers and four-wheelers -- enter the City every day. With haphazard parking and chaotic traffic movement, Panaji witnesses choc-a-bloc situation, especially during peak hours.
Three roads -- Atmaram Borkar Road, 18th June Road and M G Road -- which run parallel to each other, are considered to be the busiest roads in the city. Being business and shopping hubs, these are
visited by thousands of tourists and locals alike. To tackle the problem of double parking and traffic violations, Traffic Cell, Panaji, in association with the Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP), had installed CCTVs at eight strategic locations in the City in January 2013 on pilot basis. With the help of these CCTVs, the Traffic Cell managed to issue over 10,000 challans for violations across the City. However, due to failure on part of CCP to sign an annual maintenance contract (AMC), this project too did not take off.
Secondly, as there is no effective public transport system in place, people prefer to come with their own vehicles and due to lack of parking space, it further leads to congestion. Even the multi-level car parking facility created near Santa Monica Jetty remains underutilised.
"If there are buses plying from the KTC Bus Stand at regular intervals, we can always park our vehicles outside the City and use the public transport to enter the City. Right now there are buses but there are no fixed timings", said a commuter who travels everyday from Margao to Panaji.
Another young lady, however, lamented that they even cannot take a cab as their charges are exorbitant.
"If I want to go from Panaji to Miramar, there are instances where cabs have asked for Rs 300 which is not at all justified", she complained.
Another major problem Panaji faces is lack of parking spaces. As per the LKS masterplan, Panaji currently has parking space for 12,610 vehicles, of which 8495 is for two-wheelers and 3,665 is for four-wheelers.
Nonetheless, CCP last year had implemented pay parking across 18 streets in the City, but was in vain as the CCP started it before putting the required infrastructure in place and secondly, it also failed to recover the money from the contractor.
Secondly, as there is no effective public transport system in place, people prefer to come with their own vehicles and due to lack of parking space, it further leads to congestion. Even the multi-level car parking facility created near Santa Monica Jetty remains underutilised.
"If there are buses plying from the KTC Bus Stand at regular intervals, we can always park our vehicles outside the City and use the public transport to enter the City. Right now there are buses but there are no fixed timings", said a commuter who travels everyday from Margao to Panaji.
Another young lady, however, lamented that they even cannot take a cab as their charges are exorbitant.
"If I want to go from Panaji to Miramar, there are instances where cabs have asked for Rs 300 which is not at all justified", she complained.
Another major problem Panaji faces is lack of parking spaces. As per the LKS masterplan, Panaji currently has parking space for 12,610 vehicles, of which 8495 is for two-wheelers and 3,665 is for four-wheelers.
Nonetheless, CCP last year had implemented pay parking across 18 streets in the City, but was in vain as the CCP started it before putting the required infrastructure in place and secondly, it also failed to recover the money from the contractor.
