MARGAO: Travelling along the Zuari Bridge continued to be a nightmare as several commuters on Monday were left stranded in a traffic jam for over 5 hours on both sides of the bridge.
Commuters heading towards Panjim from Vasco and those travelling in the opposite direction got stuck.
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A commuter complained that buses were stuck, and people missed their flights and to make things worse the ambulances were stranded on both sides.
What upset the stranded passengers, which included KTC shuttle buses, was that the new Zuari Bridge was open for people to click selfies and not for vehicles.
Herald tried speaking to senior KTC officials as the bus passengers were stranded for such a long time. The passengers complained about the problems they would face in reaching home once the buses arrive at their respective bus stops late at night.
Traffic snarls began early in the evening and the traffic congestion just grew after that with vehicles getting stuck for a long time.
Stand-up comedian Saidutt Kamat, who was also caught up in the jam, felt this incident could have been avoided.
“If the bridge is ready then it should have been opened for the public, without doing the show like clicking selfies etc. Commuters should have been allowed somehow even if there was no formal inauguration as that could have been done later. The traffic was also because of the rush. In the past we could understand why the traffic jams were caused (due to construction work of the bridge) but the traffic jam today and yesterday was because of the funniest decisions and the people who came to click photos had parked their cars in the wrong way,” he added.
Another passenger complained that she was stuck in traffic on Monday, Sunday and on Friday night on the same highway.
“Before Christmas, we got traffic heading towards Margao near the Zuari Bridge at midnight. Yesterday and today, I have been stuck for hours heading towards Panjim. These are the days we visit family and we don’t want to be spending that time on the road for hours together,” complained Luciana Rodrigues from Colva.
“It took me more than three hours to reach Margao. My family had some urgent work as a relative is in the hospital and we were supposed to help out, but we got stuck here and everyone was inconvenienced,” said Savio Fernandes from Porvorim.
