the goan I network
PORVORIM
A breakdown in the trailer transporting a deck segment to the new Mandovi bridge under construction in the wee hours of Thursday led to huge queues and several hundreds of motorists stranded in Porvorim for many hours.
By about 9 am, the one-way highway leading to Panaji and the parallel Service Road were chockablock with hundreds of stranded motorists desperate to reach their offices and other destinations.
The line stretched well before the Delfino’s Hypermart, forcing the police to turn the one-way highway along the stretch between the Secretariat and the Mandovi leading to Panaji into a two-way, as the trailer remained stranded on the other side of the one-way highway leading towards Mapusa. The situation got compounded when one vehicle dashed against another near Sai Service.
The worst sufferers were school children, office-goers and patients being rushed to Goa Medical College Hospital at Bambolim.
Speaking to The Goan, Traffic Police Inspector Narayan Chimulkar said the traffic jam began after a trailer transporting a deck segment broke down on the one-way highway towards Mapusa near the old Mandovi bridge at about 5.30 am.
“Since the stranded trailer was along the Panjim“Mapusa side of the highway, traffic movement towards Mapusa was also affected. Police were, therefore, forced to divert traffic proceeding towards Mapusa along the one-way highway towards Panaji near the Secretariat,” said PI Chimulkar.
The buildup of traffic then led to a lengthy queue on the new Mandovi bridge.
“Steps were taken to rectify the defect in the trailer and the traffic was normal by 11.30 am,” PI Chimulkar added.
When contacted, Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation Vice-Chairman Siddharth Kunkolienkar also confirmed that traffic was paralysed due to a breakdown of the trailer near the Alto-Betim circle.
“I was also stuck in the traffic jam and got delayed for a function in Porvorim. Such incidents are beyond our control. Work on the third Mandovi bridge is going on at quick pace and efforts are being made to complete work on the bridge from Porvorim to Panjim by this June,” said Kunkolienkar.
“Work on the Panaji side was delayed by a year-and-half mainly because of a case filed by an NGO against the government. The court has cleared the stay on the work at Panaji,” he added.
