MAPUSA
The Mapusa civic body was eager to increase various taxes and fees to carry out development work in town but the same municipal council has been dragging its feet to carry out a simple task of installing traffic signals at the key junction in Mapusa.
While vehicles coming from all directions create traffic congestion and utter chaos at the key court junction especially during the peak hours, the municipal council, whose office incidentally is located near the junction, shows no eagerness to set up the signal and ease the pain of motorists and pedestrians.
With at least four schools and a college in the vicinity, the court junction is easily the busiest intersection in Mapusa and during school hours, the junction turns very chaotic.
With no signals and a lone traffic police to manage the traffic, the situation at the junction gets worse and becomes dangerous for the motorists.
Residents of the area have been complaining about the situation since a long time, however, nothing concrete has been done so far.
The councillors in the opposition had slammed the ruling group for dragging its feet and paying lip service to works that need to be completed on priority.
“Almost a year back, we took a resolution to install a traffic signal at the junction but nothing has happened. Some decisions have to be taken in a time-bound manner. Why should we allow the contractors such a long time? It exhibits the inertia in the functioning of the council,” said Shashank Narverkar, a councillor of Mapusa.
“There are so many schools surrounding the junction which puts the students and parents into immense difficulty. It’s a shame for us that we being at the helm of civic affairs are unable to give a simple facility to the people of Mapusa,” said Kamal D’Souza, another councillor.
In the past, traffic signals were set up at the junction but were constantly failing. The civic body then decided to discontinue the service of the former contractor and appointed a new one in his place, who assured to maintain the signals for next 10 years.
The ruling group councillor, Sushan Harmalkar informed that the agreement with the contractor was changed twice and therefore, there was delay in fixing the signal.
“The contractor is ready with the traffic signals. Since the chief officer was busy with the council’s budget proposals, the decision was held up. It will be sorted out within a week or two,” said Harmalkar, who is the chairman of the public works committee in the municipal council.
