It is a link village to all coastal tourism destinations in North Goa, but Siolim has suffered from poor planning and as a result, constant traffic jams are a frequent challenge for residents and visitors passing through the village.
The junction at Vaddy-Siolim is perhaps the worst affected place in the village. Tourists travel from Anjuna, Calangute, Chapora, Mapusa or Morjim and converge at the junction in Vaddy, leading to prolonged traffic jams.
Besides growing traffic along the route, roadside encroachments are also being blamed for the traffic chaos in Vaddy-Siolim.
“Due to improper planning and failure of the local body to enforce the law, there has been rampant road encroachment without setbacks at the Vaddy junction,” stated Siolim-based activist, Tony D’Souza.
“The Town and Country Planning, the local body and prominent residents have to sit together and work out a solution to make this junction free from traffic jam. Some serious thinking has to be put into developing Siolim village and our MLA has to play a very important role in this,” he said.
Added a senior citizen, Lawrance Braganza said, “What we need is proper planning and all stakeholders have to be part of this planning for the village. Our MLA has to press for a task force to draw up a proper plan for the village. The government has assured Rs 1 crore for every panchayat and we should utilize it for development.”
Bella D’Souza, another senior citizen from Vaddy, lamented about the dilapidated condition of the Vaddy Afframent road. “The worst is the haphazard parking by goods vehicles/taxis in front of the heritage and famous St Anthony Church,” she said.
When contacted, Siolim-Marna Sarpanch Savita Govekar admitted that there is a lot of chaos and traffic jams. “I myself have experienced it, as sometimes during tourist season, we get stuck in traffic jams for almost an hour, but nothing can be done,” said Govekar.
“People and shopkeepers are not ready to co-operate, due to which road widening and proper planning cannot be done,” added the sarpanch.
