Killer roads continue to force untimely funerals upon us

19-year-old Syed Ismail became one more road accident statistic in Navelim on September 30, his death yet a painful reminder that our roads are getting even more accident prone. As traffic and people converge, a dangerous traffic mess occurs at critical junctions where the mere act of surviving a road journey is an achievement. Read Herald’s in-depth reportage from ground zero

Published on:

02 Oct 2014, 7:14 pm

Guilherme Almeida;

gilu@herald-goa.com

NAVELIM: Relatives and friends bid a tearful adieu to 19-year-old Syed Ismail as his mortal remains were laid to rest at the Pajifond Kabrasatan on Wednesday. The tragic death of this first-year old college student in a road accident at Navelim on Tuesday, however, have brought back to sharp focus the traffic woes plaguing this semi urban village on the outskirts of the Commercial capital.

Indeed, the accident has catapulted the burning traffic issue back on the centre stage for the authorities and powers that be for redressal.

Navelim has for long been craving for attention and a solution to the traffic snarls, especially at the two junctions along the stretch of road in front of the Church.

The presence of educational and religious institutions, all within 100-200 meter radius, bringing over 3000 students during peak hours, coupled with the fact that the NH-17 is cutting right through the village near Our Lady of Rosary Church, has not spurred the authorities to work out a comprehensive traffic management plan for Navelim.

In fact, locals says that successive governments have only paid lip service to the dire need to streamline and regulate incoming traffic, especially the heavy inter-state traffic plying on the NH-17 which cuts through the village before entering Margao town. In the absence of a bypass for heavy inter-state vehicles and with the eastern bypass hitting a virtual dead end at Rawanfond, all heavy traffic heading towards down south enters Navelim from behind the Church to join the NH-17. The fate of the western bypass, connecting Navelim and Nuvem–land for which was acquired by the government over a decade ago – also remains unknown. Sources said that land acquisition authorities had rushed with the proposal to acquired lakhs of square meters of land, right from Navelim to Nuvem, sometime in 2003-04 for the proposed bypass.

Soon after taking over the reigns, Navelim MLA and Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado had proposed the Jackniband-Rawanfond bypass for heavy and inter-state traffic. The proposal has not changed the ground reality for want of land acquisition. And, with land acquisition turning out a time consuming process, the local MLA have now proposed widening of the exiting highway between the Navelim Church and Jackniband bridge. Barring two houses, land owners have given their NOCs for the proposed widening. Says Avertano Furtado: Though NOCs from the two parties are still being awaited, we are going ahead with the road widening work. The forest department has marked the tress that will have to make way for the road widening. Work on the road widening project will start at the earliest.”

Incidentally, the sub-way located at the traffic junction near the old panchayat ghar cannot be used by pedestrians round the year on account of water logging. The subway has been found locked and inquiries only revealed that the panchayat, which looks after its maintenance, had locked it due to water logging. Village Sarpanch Frank Fernandes said the panchayat has proposed to the authorities a ban on plying of heavy vehicles through Navelim during peak school hours.

Says Deputy Superintendent of police, Traffic Guruprasad Mhapne: “The traffic department have mulled a host of measures to ease traffic congestion at the Navelim junction. We have recommended a ban on entry of inter-state heavy vehicles through Navelim during peak school hours. We have proposed that these heavy vehicles be parked at Jackniband and along the railway station-District library and allowed to ply after school peak hours”.

Says Secretary, Navelim Civic and Consumer Forum, Joseph L Vaz: “We have to understand that the area around the Church, which includes the two junctions have a lot of pedestrian traffic, with a Church (Asia’s biggest Parish), two government primary schools, two high schools, a higher secondary and a college, market, football ground, commercial shops, restaurants etc, all within a radius of 100 mts. I feel that road widening will encourage speeding. What is important is proper planning and control of traffic at this junction”.

Restore traffic signals in Vasco

Citizen Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco

The St Andrew’s church square junction happens to be the busiest junction in the port town. It happens to be the main entry and exit point for vehicles, both light and heavy vehicles, as well as for vehicles coming and going to Mangor Hill. Incidentally four roads converge at this point. A lone traffic cop is seen controlling the traffic which is very heavy during peak hours and there is no cop manning the junction during after sun set. Several years back traffic signals were put up at this busy junction but after a short time these traffic signals stopped functioning and they have been in this state for over a decade. Since the traffic in the port town has increased by leaps and bounds and is set to increase manifold in the next couple of years, it seems absolutely necessary to get these traffic signals functioning. If not there will be absolute chaos at this busy junction in the coming days.

Signboards at Margao collectorate

Citizen Commodore Gilbert Menezes, by email

This is one of the many signboards in front of the new collectorate building in Margao, which was opened with much fanfare by our politicians, including the chief minister some time ago. The collector and innumerable bureaucrats pass these signs everyday. Yet, no one has the will or desire to correct these spellings. This is an indicator of the lack of attention and lackadaisical attitude of our public servants.

Stray cattle menace

Citizen Veena /Vandana Fernandes, Cansaulim

This has reference to your news article dated September 12, 2014 on 'Vehicle Knocks down three cows, two injured'. I was driving through Cuelim towards Margao. I had to apply a sudden brake, as half of road was occupied by squatting cows. And since the vehicles were coming from opposite direction, I had to wait to proceed. As soon as the vehicles passed I proceeded further by taking a turn to my right. Luckily I just missed hitting a motorbike coming from behind. Perhaps the rider was not aware of the cows sitting on the road. If any accident had to take place, it would have been registered as an offence of rash driving against the driver.

Whose fault is it? Isn’t the owner of the cows responsible? Tackling these stray cattle menace on the roads will help save lot of precious lives.

Roadside parking

Citizen Lucas D'Souza, Qatar/Verna

There is a 4 meter wide road coming down from the main NH17 opposite Fr Agnel Ashram at Verna which leads to about 50 residences down this road. Touching this side road is a two-wheeler showroom with the front of the showroom facing the main highway. This showroom uses this side way as a service road putting the residents to a lot of inconvenience with haphazard parking of bikes which come for servicing and the visitors cars which are also parked on this road. There are 'no parking' sign boards put up by the Verna panchayat but nobody pays heed. This showroom has ample of parking space in front of their showroom which can be used for their visitors car parking. To add to this chaos there is also a school bus which is regularly using the road shoulder and the highway for parking making it difficult in an emergency situation for a fire brigade or an ambulance to make its way through. Will the Verna Panchayat/Police act in this matter?

Illegible receipt

Citizen Diogo Furtado, Chinchinim

On 21 August 2014, I sent Registered Air letter with A/D to Australia. The receipt received by me was printed in such a way that no alphabet can be read, as they are joined to one another. Is this the type of service Chinchinim post office gives to the sons of the soil? I have paid Rs 85 as postage fees. Are such illegible receipt supposed to be accepted by the people? When the staff is questioned, they mention that the machine prints that way. Are we supposed to accept the dictates of the machine? Is the machine our master? Or are we the masters of the machine. It is well known that post offices come under the domain of the Central Government. Will they come to Goa from Delhi to check these irregularities?

quoteroom

I have worked out both long term and short term measures to the traffic problems facing Navelim. I have proposed a bypass from Jackniband to Rawanfond. But, that will take some time as it involves land acquisition. In the meantime, I have proposed widening of the existing road from Jackniband to Navelim Church to ease traffic congestion, especially near the church junction. A traffic circle is being proposed to regulate traffic flow at the junction after the road widening

Avertano Furtado

Fisheries Minister

The panchayat looks after the sub way maintenance. The subway is waterlogged during monsoon, but we now plan to evolve a solution to make it operational throughout the year. We have also submitted a proposal to regulate entry of heavy traffic during school hours.

Frank Fernandes,

Navelim Sarpanch

We need a holistic approach to solve the traffic woes plaguing Navelim. The existing highway needs widening. The subway should be put to use for the student community. I have despatched a host of proposals to the district collector, South to ease traffic congestion in Navelim, especially at the junction

Guruprasad Mhapne

DySP, traffic

Navelim today is a semi urban area. It has a host of institutions within 200-300 meter radius. There is huge pedestrian traffic near the junction given the location of educational institutions, church, football ground et al. I am of the opinion that the authorities should work out a mechanism to ensure that inter-state buses do not enter the village

Joseph L Vaz

Navelim consumer forum Secretary