TEAM HERALD
OLD GOA: Passengers and crew on a ferryboat are reported to have had a lucky escape on Wednesday morning, when the ferry proceeding from Divar to Old Goa lost its way due to thick fog and reached near the Cumbarjua railway bridge.
Despite the near zero visibility, the coxswain, however, managed to steer the ferry back to the Divar ferry wharf.
In the second such incident within three months, hundreds of locals of Divar island were put to great inconvenience as the early morning ferry services could not begin on time due to thick fog on Wednesday. It may be recalled that a similar incident had occurred in November last year, when ferryboats began plying around two hours late.
This time around, though, the ferry services started around three hours late, which has once again brought into sharp focus the need for a bridge connecting the Divar island to the mainland.
Speaking to Herald, Chillaya Sawant, who is actively campaigning for the bridge, informed that he was supposed to catch the 7.15 am ferry but had to wait till around 11 am to cross over, as he had to waited till the huge rush of commuters was cleared.
“The fog was so thick that the Divar ferry which left for Old Goa wharf at 7.15 am had to return to the Divar side as it lost its way and reached near the Cumbarjua railway bridge,” said Sawant, while highlighting the danger posed to the commuters.
“The ferry services started only after 8.55 am, when the fog had cleared,” he said and informed that around 800 commuters were affected on both ferry wharfs on Divar island – opposite Ribandar and Old Goa, where the queue of vehicles had grown more than a kilometre long.
“Students and office-goers were the worst affected, as they could not reach their schools and offices on time,” Sawant said and added that a bridge is the only solution to put an end to such problems.
Jerry D’Souza, who along with Sawant is spearheading the campaign for a bridge, said they had submitted a memorandum to then CM Manohar Parrikar last November, who had assured that he would come to the aid of the affected Divar locals.
“I earnestly appeal to the current Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to follow up on the assurance and provide relief to the affected people of Divar,”
he added.
