Cafe will
keep showing the mess Goa’s roads are in hoping that someone will see the point
someday. We can’t let our people die with roads like this
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So this
is a new style of breaking news. By the time you read this, it is highly
possible that one road in the state has had a new pothole, or the old one has
expanded, one portion of some road has caved in, or one two wheeler rider has
lost balance and got injured.
The
broken-ness of Goa is visible. And it’s right on our roads.
“The
roads of the main cities are in a bad state. The authorities are only playing a
blame game and no one is taking the responsibility. Everyone is just passing
the problem from one agency to another,” says Sanju Naik, resident of Aldona.
He also
talks about how the CCP, being the main body in the city, has no control over
the state of affairs in Panjim, touted to be a smart city. “The potholes on the
road have led to so many accidents. This roadwork is supposed to be pre-monsoon
work, so we shouldn’t blame the rains,” he adds.
Let’s be
honest, the problem of bad roads has been surfacing for years now. The potholes
are covered up in shallow loose gravel or stones that are simply scattered
again after few vehicles run over them.
In Miramar, a pothole was
covered by a concrete block, others with loose gravel. WHO IS IN CHARGE?
Last
week on the Miramar road in Panjim, a pothole had been discovered covered up
with a huge concrete block. It posed as a danger to the vehicular traffic. Some
called it the new speed breaker (as a joke), yet it is a serious matter as
anybody could have met with an accident. When will thIs issue be solved?
“We
Goans are paying road tax for the entire state and therefore it is the duty of
the authorities to provide us with the best. Danger lies not only in potholes
but with the rain water accumulation, as vehicular traffic is exposed to the threat
and pedestrians are also harmed,” Mukesh Kerkar, resident of Panjim, shares
firmly.
Sunil
Jadeja, a junior engineer from Porvorim, travels daily to Pernem and back and
he describes his experiences on the road. “Honestly, you cannot predict the
depth of these potholes, especially during the rains. The vehicles literally
hit hard on the ground. Even if the potholes are filled up by morning, while
returning in the evening, those patches have already been washed off. It is
really dangerous,” he says.
At the
end, it all depends on a wise plan to solve such issues, and the people of Goa
are looking up to the authorities for some improvement. There is no plan, or a
man or woman to tell us what the plan is, or even if there is a placn in
future, who will execute it.
For now,
each time you leave home, do the only thing in your control…. Pray!
