Goan roads continue to flow with blood of innocent road accident victims. Nobody knows when this madness will stop, or who will end this. Despite the supposedly best efforts by the authorities, accidents happen at periodic intervals and claim lives. Innocent, lives. In recent times, the number of fatal road accident victims is on the rise. This is what is more shocking and painful.
The black Sunday accident at Banastarim Bridge where three precious lives were lost and equal number of people were seriously injured or maimed has shaken the conscience of the common man and the authorities as well. With the kind of eye witness account we have been hearing within few hours of the accident, the mystery of who actually was behind the wheels, at the time of the ghastly accident may remain a mystery for our life time. Now that the accident investigation has been handed over to the Crime Branch, let the investigating officers do their job with a clean conscience and hand on their heart so as to reveal the truth.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Goa wants to know the truth, and nothing but the truth. For the sake of the orphaned children, let the truth be revealed. The tragedy is too big to bear. For the sake of one sibling who is a police constable, let the truth be known. As he makes his career in the department, let his conscience be at rest for having received justice from his senior fraternity for the tragic death of his parents at the hands of a drunken SUV driver. It will only inspire him to work with more honesty, dedication and diligence. If not, Karma will visit you with vengeance sooner or later. Karma may be delayed, but it can never miss its mark. The Transport Minster is on record saying this ‘tragic accident is a plain murder’. And murder it is.
Murder has no forgiveness, one has to pay back. The Chief Minister has given an assurance on the floor of the House that the traffic rules will be made more stringent. In other words it is an open admittance, that the traffic rules were not stringent enough. The assurance may be commendable, but considering the rate at which Goa is losing young men and women on account of roads accidents across the state, this seems to be too little too late.
The pace of road accidents and fatalities if one may recall began at the beginning of 2023, and with a slight drop in fatalities in July 2023, but the graph is on the rise again. The so called ‘stringent measures’ should have been implemented on a war footing at the beginning of the year itself. Drinking and driving is nothing new to Goan roads. It has always been a matter of concern, but it needed a triple tragedy to make laws more stringent. Sadly, a tragedy has to strike, and innocent lives have to be lost to open up the eyes of conscience and get the administration moving.
With the death of the innocent Fadte couple from Divar, two innocent children have been left orphaned overnight, and their aged grand-parents in a state of terrible shock. Their dream of a happy family has been turned into a nightmare for a life time. Can one imagine the plight and the state of mind of these two innocent children who have no parents to turn to in time of need? What have they done to suffer this tragedy at such young age?
The dream house that Suresh and Bhavana Fadte were constructing has suddenly become meaningless for their children, with their mortal remains consigned to flames. Whether rich or poor, owning a comfortable house of one’s own is an ultimate dream, the Fadte couple too had this dream for the sake of their two children. But the tragedy is, just because somebody had a grand day long Friendship Day celebrations, orgy of food and drinks and someone drank like fish and drove like a possessed soul under the heavy influence of liquor three times more than the permissible limit, two young budding children Sahil and Achal in the prime of their youth have been rendered orphans. What wrong have they committed to lose their parents?
Can any amount of sympathy compensate them with the security and love of their parents? The answer is a plain no! Yet they need to take courage, stand up and pick up the threads of life which are badly cut and tangled by one crazy, insensitive and drunken driver of a Merc SUV. If he has an ounce of humanity in his heart, this incident should haunt him for life. Sahil and Achal need help to build their lives and build their home in memory of their dear departed parents.
If the state authorities still feel that people will forget about the tragic incident in a while, because public memory is short, they are mistaken. Too many assurances have been given, too many promises have been made in the past and none were honoured in the true spirit. All the 40 Goan MLAs need to take a bow in memory of all lives lost due to road accidents since January 1, 2023 till date, and make a wow to take up road safety on priority. Let road safety be a collective responsibility. Stop the blame game and look for real solutions to make Goan roads safe for motorists and pedestrians.
If the government is really serious in bringing road discipline, minimize road accidents and curtail the fatalities, it will do well not only to make the traffic rules more stringent but to implement them without any compromise. Give the police a free hand to implement the law without any interference from the high and mighty. Strengthen the traffic cells across Goa, fill up vacant posts. Implement night patrolling on all the highways and district roads. Install AI automatic signalling system across the state on war footing and for God’s sake do not drag your feet on road safety.
(The writer is a Vasco based Konkani author, freelance writer and TV anchor)
