TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Saying there will be three vehicles for every person in Goa within a decade, Transport Minister, Sudin Dhavlikar on Saturday mulled construction of a highway, new roads, widening of existing roads and effective traffic management to take care of increasing traffic requirements.
He assured to get the entire highway passing through Goa tarred this year, saying the proposal has been cleared by Union Minister through the initiative of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Speaking after launching the 25th Road Safety Week at the Carmel College, Nuvem on Saturday morning, Dhavlikar said the government is ready to provide alternatives and solutions to address the growing traffic problem facing the State. “Within 10 years, there will be three vehicles for every person. We have to build the highway and widen existing roads and construct new roads,” he told the gathering.
The Transport Minister said neither the traffic police, RTO or NGOs will be able to solve the burning traffic safety and management unless people obey traffic rules. “The government can give good roads and traffic management, but unless people obey the rules, attending to accident prone zones and curves will not be of much help,” he said.
Dhavlikar made a fervent plea to the parents and school managements to help inculcate traffic rules and disciple amongst their wards to address the burning issue.
In his address, Transport Director Arun Desai said that transport department’s initiative on road safety has begun to pay rich dividends. “If you take a look at the accident death rate, it has shown a decline every year. From 327 deaths in 2010, the number of road accident deaths came down to 257 in 2013. This despite the fact that around 69,000 new vehicles were added on the roads,” he said, adding that sustained efforts by the department has helped to bring about a change in attitude amongst the riders and drivers.
GOACAN Convenor Roland Martins also addressed the function.
