Team Herald

CANACONA: The yet-to-be-commissioned NH66 bypass road linking Char Rasta to Mashem witnessed a collision between 2 two-wheelers at Ganebaga on Tuesday and both the riders suffered extensive injuries.  

Canacona police said that a scooter (GA-10-B-7220) riden by Marina Fernandes  a resident of Galgibaga collided with a moving motorcycle (GA-02-P-4336) riden by Kusta Komarpant resident of Patnem when they reached at Ganebaga before noon on Tuesday.

Police said that the motorcycle rider suffered a leg fracture while the scooter rider sustained head injuries and were shifted to Hospicio hospital Margao after administering treatment at Canacona Health Center. 

Even though the 7.4km bypass road on NH66 linking Char Rasta to Mashem once commissioned is supposed to reduce the travel distance by 10kms and also to reduce the number of accidents drastically, but the fact is that this stretch is witnessing frequent two-wheeler accidents before even it being opened for traffic. 

The work on the bypass road linking Char Rasta with Mashem is nearing completion and is waiting to be inaugurated in a few weeks from now but for the approach road from the Southern side is mired into controversy with a local resident filing a PIL in a local court over the alleged illegal reclamation of land.

The road from Char Rasta till Galgibaga is complete with even the contractor erecting signboards and has kept the road open for two-wheelers on the request of the residents residing on this route.

The 7.4km 4 lane road has been in the news of late for both good and bad reasons though.

The good reason is that the residents staying in the villages of Loliem, Mashem, Galgibaga, Katebaga and Sadolxem have got a road which reduces the traveling distance by about 10km and travel time by almost 20 minutes.

However, this road has allegedly gained notoriety for drug and liquor abuse say locals. 

"This road being wide and straighter, young bikers use this road for racing, already a few accidents have occurred on this road" said Diogo Da'Silva a local resident. 

Last month 2, two-wheelers banged head-on simultaneously on two cows who were squating on this road at Galgibaga, both the cows died on the spot with the impact while the the riders and the pillions survived in the mischap. 

Experts say that the road itself is built by adopting good road engineering and building practices but it lacks good safety measures.

There are level crossings at 4 places on this road, which is extremely dangerous and could lead to accidents if no corrective action is taken.  

“Before this beautiful road is thrown open for traffic, the authorities have to do an audit on how safe this road is otherwise lives are going to be lost" warned Pradeep Mokhardakar.