SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2024
Santosh Naik
PONDA: The Pondataluka has earned the dubious distinction of being the accident capital of the state. With at least nine major accident sites identified by the police and numerous lives lost, these locations-comprising junctions, traffic islands and sharp bends - continue to threaten the wellbeing and safety of both motorists and pedestrians.
What has been irking Pondaites is that little has been done by the authorities concerned to remedy the situation. Meanwhile, fatalities continue to rise, with 25 deaths reported last year and the first two months of 2023 having already registered five deaths at Ponda andDharbandora.
One of the most dangerous spots among these is the slope at the Kundaim-Manaswada junction, where at least three fatalities have been registered in recent years. Just last week, a truck rammed into a roadside shop there, causing it to collapse. The falling debris killedone person, while five others were injured.
Locals have frequently been protesting the government’s lackadaisical attitude in the matter and have been demanding that the stretch be used as a service road. They have even suggested that trafficproceeding from Ponda to Panjim on the national highway be diverted to the Kundaim bypass to prevent horrific accidents at the village junction, and have now given the government a 15-day ultimatum to implement this.
Another horrific junction is at Mangueshi. A recent collision between two cars travelling in the opposite direction resulted in five people getting hurt. But apart from installing rumbler strips at the site, little else has been done to make it safer for commuters, locals say.
The third deadly junction is at the GVM Circle at Farmagudi, where the Margao-Panjim and Panjim-Ponda- Belagavi roads intersect. People of the area have long been demanding that the diameter of the circle be reduced to avert any further loss of life due to accidents there. They maintain that its current positioning is wrong - it is located on a slope - and that it is much too large for that spot, causing several road accidents instead of actually helping streamline vehicular movement.
Then there are the two circles at Baytakhol and near the Borimbridge which have an infamy of their own. To date, very few people haveforgotten the horrific accident at the Borimbridge in which threelinemen of the state electricity department were crushed to deathafter a truck that was ferrying them along with some electricity polesoverturned while negotiating the circle.
Similar accidents have occurred at the Baytakhol Circle when motorists have tried to navigate around it. Recently, a loaded truck fell on its side at the circle but six people fortunately escaped a near certain death.
The Dhavalim-Farmagudi f our-lane highway, which largely comprises sharp turns, is also considered a death trap. Locals have been pushing for safety measures here to prevent vehicles from falling on their sides while travelling on this stretch, with the morbid memory of a crane falling from the flyover above and killing its driver on the spot still fresh in their minds.
