After suffering weeks of very bad roads, crawling traffic, and terrible traffic jams, at last the citizens of Cortalim and Agassaim protested against the terrible conditions of the road.
All the authorities, the ministers, the MLAs, the engineers, the contractors who use that stretch of road every day are all fully aware of the pathetic condition of the roads and yet did nothing about it. Is it because they just do not care about the sufferings of the people?
Office goers reaching late for work, doctors and therapists missing their appointments, patients and ambulances held up for hours on the road endangering lives was an everyday affair. In some metros, there have been instances of patients dying in ambulances held up by slow traffic. Should citizens wait for such catastrophes to take place, for authorities to develop sensitivity to the dangers to people’s lives? Last month in one week of heavy rain, at least 15 persons died in accidents on the pot holed road of Mumbai, and to date no one has been held responsible/accountable/answerable because of which, it would appear that the authorities just do not care for the lives or the safety of the tax paying citizens.
In the game of passing the buck various authorities such as the government, engineers and contractors, the traffic authority are busy passing the buck between each other, the rain, the monsoons and so on. When such massive infrastructural construction activities are going on it is quite obvious to everyone that a certain degree of damage to the road is likely to take place.
Therefore the authorities should have the vision to take pre-emptive measures to minimise pot holes, such as providing camber and adequate drainage for the rainwater that damages to the roads. The responsible authorities should anticipate, and be prepared to take immediate corrective action using latest technology for the repairs of the road on a daily basis as is done in most countries elsewhere.
Further the authorities should have the sensitivity to carry out repair and restoration works during the night between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., so as to avoid disruption of repairs by traffic, and to minimise inconvenience to the traveling public.
Unfortunately none of these very simple measures which are basic requirement in most countries is completely ignored in our country in general and in Goa in particular. When will authorities develop the sensitivity to the sufferings of the people and do what needs to be done in anticipation without waiting for citizens to suffer and force citizens to protest against the injustice to the suffering taxpayer?
