Indeed, there was no need for writing of this article but I pen this to throw some light on our perennial traffic and parking woes and the ugly high handedness of foreigners in our own land which if not nipped in the bud will take a turn for utter chaos and unabetted tension among the locals. This problem exists mostly in the coastal belt of Goa, where the foreigners flock for the sun and the sea. They usually have a rented two wheeler and a few have four wheelers. I’m precisely commenting about Canacona taluka.
Some six months ago the CMC had erected traffic signboards after spending almost a lakh of rupees for easy flow of traffic and efficient parking, but till today it is not implemented, neither in principle nor in practice. The result is that everyone turns a Nelson’s eye and park as per their convenience and to the disadvantage of others who follows. The other day when I came to Chaudi and wanted to park my car I was inconvenienced by one car parked obliquely and the adjacent area was full of scooters parked haphazardly. I was determined to see who the fellow offender was and after a 15-20 minutes wait came a tourist couple, of whom I knew the gentlemen who comes annually and exchanges pleasantries whenever we come across each other. But when I approached this British gentlemen guessing that he is the culprit saying “friend is this your vehicle?” He turned very hostile and started uttering that the world is very big followed by a startling “don’t be racist”. He was so infuriated that he stormed off without doing the needful. Could we do the same in his country? The answer is a big NO because you are not allowed for want of an international permit and secondly the traffic rules are strictly implemented or you have to pay a hefty fine or lose your permit.
What makes me ponder is that are these the very people who apparently taught us to be civilized, and all the etiquette are forgetting their civics? For this I don’t blame them. It is our government machinery, the traffic department in particular has to be disciplined first to enforce and implement the rules and regulations in the true sense of the word and the rest will fall in place automatically.
