MARGAO
As schools begin a new academic year from Monday, traffic and parking issues plaguing the commercial capital, especially around the city’s educational institutions, have come back to haunt the powers that be again.
Nothing seemed to have changed on the ground over the last two years since educational institutions remained shut during the Covid pandemic. In fact, new traffic and parking issues have come to the fore during this period, which may make matters worse for the traffic and police authorities to regulate traffic. Other than traffic regulation, the authorities seemed to have little or no option to address the perennial issues. Aggravating the situation is the fact that most of the educational institutions are all located just around a kilometre radius.
Comba congestion
The Comba area is considered the city’s educational hub, with institutions imparting education right from Kindergarten (KG) to Post Graduation (PG). The institutions play host to thousands of students not only from Margao but from the city’s outskirts. Sadly, the flow of vehicular traffic bringing thousands of school children to these institutions is at the mercy of the railways.
It’s often said that when the Comba railway crossing is shut to facilitate the trains to run, road traffic in Comba comes to a screeching halt. The construction of the subway (road underpass) has helped in a small way to regulate traffic flow, but it seemed to have outlived its utility simply because of the volume of traffic moving to the educational institutions. The situation is worse during the monsoons when the subway is left inundated due to flooding of the low lying areas.
The opening of the Comba ring road has further aggravated traffic with all vehicles coming from the coastal belt taking the ring road to head to Panaji.
The rise in the frequency in the running of the trains on the Konkan railway track and the coal wagons has only resulted in the frequent closure of the railway crossing, further aggravating the situation.
While a flyover at the railway crossing to facilitate unrestricted movement of traffic is considered a permanent solution, no priority has been accorded to the proposal to date.
In the heart of the town
It’s not uncommon to find hundreds of vehicles lined up to drop school children in the educational institutions located around the Margao police station in the mornings and afternoons. Regulation of traffic has been an issue over the years, and a solution seemed to have eluded the traffic and other authorities to date.
Plans to utilize the Margao old bus stand to drop school children seemed to have come to a cropper. One now finds fast-food kiosks all on the old bus stand throughout the day when the owners are mandated to tow the kiosks to their place of residence after business hours in late evenings.
Neither the Margao municipality, which owns the land, seemed to be in any hurry to get the gaddas towed away, nor the traffic department has drawn up any plans to utilize the old bus stand for parking vehicles coming to drop or collect the school children.
While staggered school timings have been often suggested as a solution to stop hundreds of vehicles lining up in the heart of the town to drop children around the same time, the proposal has not been taken to the logical conclusion for reasons best known to the school administrators and the traffic regulators.
From South district hospital road to Presentation school
The full-fledged commissioning of the South Goa district hospital last year has resulted in visitors parking their vehicles alongside the road heading to the Presentation Convent school located in the hospital's backyard.
Statistics compiled by the traffic cell reveal that around 600 vehicles bring visitors to the hospital, while students come to the Presentation Convent school in 200-odd vehicles.
Inquiries have revealed that the parking lot under construction on the hospital's rear side will take at least a month to become a reality. Pending the completion of the hospital parking lot, the visitors will continue parking their vehicles either in front of the hospital on the main road or along the school road, further aggravating traffic and parking issues.
That’s not all. The traffic cell has proposed a circle near the district hospital-Presentation school road to regulate vehicular movement. However, since it involves land acquisition, the proposal may take time to become a reality.
DySP Traffic Dharmesh Angle speaksDySP Angle pointed out that traffic personnel attached to the Margao Traffic cell will be on the city roads early morning to regulate the flow of traffic with the schools reopening on Monday. Saying that regulation of traffic is the only solution for the moment, he said traffic personnel will be deployed near the Police station area, Presentation convent/district hospital and Comba area for regulation.Angle further pointed out that the Traffic cell will monitor the flow and movement of vehicular traffic after the school reopening for a fortnight before coming out with suggestions how to improve the situation. “Right now, traffic regulation seemed the only solution. Some of the measures suggested to the authorities will take time to become a reality. Hence, we have no option than to regulate the traffic”, he added.
