June 25 deadline given to prepare draft plan and place it before PTAs of schools in heart of city
Traffic meeting chaired by Additional Collector, South Srinet Kotwale with MLA Digambar Kamat and stakeholders on Wednesday.
MARGAO
A traffic management plan, de-notification of the Old Bus Stand, keeping the Old Bus Stand free from kiosks; staggered timings for the city schools, carting out scrap vehicles from the Old Bus Stand, parking provision along the road to Loyola High School et al.
These and other issues took the centre stage at the high level meeting to resolve the vexed traffic and parking woes in the heart of Margao town chaired by Additional Collector, Srinet Kotwale as the meeting mooted a host of measures, both temporary and permanent to streamline traffic during the peak school hours.
Besides Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, the meeting was attended by the stakeholders, including the officials of various agencies, including the RTO, Traffic, police, Margao Municipality, representatives of Loyola High School and the Fatima Convent School and the PTA representative to find out a way out of the traffic mess.
Issues concerning the congested areas, traffic tangle during the peak school hours and their connected issues also took centre stage during the deliberations.
Traffic management plan: The meeting has mulled a tentative traffic management plan for the heart of the city, with stress on traffic management, around the city schools. The plan will be drafted by the Traffic police in consultation with the representatives of the schools and stakeholders. The traffic department has been given time till June 25 to prepare the draft plan and place the same before the PTAs of the schools. After the plan is discussed with the stakeholders, it has been proposed to enforce the same for four days on a trial basis.
De-notification of Margao Old Bus Stand: Proposal to de-notify the old bus stand at Margao came as a shocker to the officials attending the meeting since it was not listed on the agenda. Sources said the bus stand was sought to be de-notified given that the bus stand is being utilized for parking of buses when a new KTC bus stand is located around 3-4 kms away from the bus stand.
That a determined bid was made to de-notify the old bus stand became clear when the meeting recommended to the RTA/Directorate of Transport not to renew the permits of the vehicles operating from the old bus stand. The meeting decided that the RTA should not grant any new permits for buses operating from the old bus stand and shall not allow the buses from the old bus stand. It was suggested to request KTC to provide space for the buses operating at the Old Bus Stand to operate from the KTC bus stand.
Gaddas and scrap: The meeting resolved that all accident vehicles and scrap material, besides movable carts/gaddas will be removed from the Old Bus Stand by June 22. The fast food carts will be told to report at the Old Bus Stand at 6 pm and wind up business by 11 pm as per the license conditions.
It has been decided that the gaddas should be parked at the Old Bus Stand after business hours from 11 pm to 6 am. In a bid to enforce the decision, the Margao Municipal Council has been told to install the entry and exit gates at the Old Bus Stand in consultation with traffic police.
Temporary parking: The meeting has decided to permit temporary parking during school hours from 7.30 am to 8 am and 12 noon to 2 pm from the Margao police station to the Loyola high school.
No U-turn at the Comba sub-way: The meeting also deliberated on the acute traffic congestion in and around the Comba subway. One of the causes identified behind the traffic congestion was the u-turn taken by motorists after coming out of the subway to head to the Old market road.
It has been decided not to allow u-turn for the traffic coming out of the subway.
Sadly, the traffic authorities led by DySP Prabodh Shirwaikar nor the PWD, Roads led by Executive Engineer Swapnil Desai did not raise the issue of the gaddas blocking traffic near the Comba railway crossing when the kiosks are operating from the PWD acquired road widening area.
Children Safety Committee in the schools: The meeting decided to activate the Children safety committee in the schools. In this respect, a decision has been taken that the Deputy Director of Education South Zone and School Managements and PTAs ensure that the Children Safety Committee in the schools are duly constituted in all schools in Margao and their meetings are held regularly and details of the same are shared to the concerned authorities.
