Friday’s accident on Paddem-Quepem road a wakeup call for authorities

MARGAO: Friday’s accident along the Paddem-Quepem road in which six persons were left wounded serves as a wakeup call for the authorities to widen the stretch which has remained unattended to for the past 15 years.

First, the road from Paddem to Quepem which is used by commuters of Netravali, Rivona, Kevona, Zambaulim, Malkarnem, Quepem, Curchorem, Sanvordem and other villages and towns has surprisingly not been widened or developed for the last 15 years for reasons best known to the local or state authorities. People cheat death along this narrow road every day. 

However, on Friday six persons including a bike rider were grievously injured in a car-two-wheeler collision. The impact was such that the car landed in a roadside field. 

Accidents are a regular feature along this stretch. Anuj Talaulikar, a daily commuter said, "Only the Quepem Market-Paddem stretch is yet to be widened. If widened it would have cleared a lot of bottlenecks." 

Secondly, the Tilamol-Zambaulim road has not been tarred for the last 15 years. Inquiries revealed that this road comes under the jurisdiction of 3 constituencies – Quepem, Curchorem and Sanguem and this bottleneck has stalled the development of this road.