Our Lady of Angustias Chapel at Golna, Porvorim lies very close to the main road. The stretch of about 110 metres is narrow and to make matters worse the top line is fenced with barbed wires which makes it a dangerous zone for the motoring public. When two vehicles, especially heavy four-wheelers meet each other they cannot pass through freely. If any motorist drives in without caution there could be a fatal fall on the barbed wires.
It may be recalled that on this zone one cyclist, who was a local mill mechanic, was knocked down by a heavy vehicle and succumbed to his injuries. There was a hue and cry in the village over his death and some villagers had then raised the issue in the Gram Sabha meeting where it was unanimously decided to build a protection wall of laterite stones.
But as the saying goes ‘out of sight is out of mind’ the issue somehow was never raised again at the gram sabhas.
After the traffic congestion in the urban area, it has reached in rural villages and has become serious problem because of the illegal compound walls which have come up on the edge of the main roads making them narrower. The number of vehicles is on the rise and has perhaps even gone higher than the population.
Due to the rising vehicles there are traffic jams in the villages where people themselves have often turned into traffic police to guide the vehicles. These congestions have often led to fatal accidents.
Therefore the local bodies should pay attention to spots where public safety is crying for attention.
Getting to know that the Village Panchayat of Pomburpa Olaulim had done lot of developments works in its jurisdiction, like widening of roads, constructing protection walls, de-silting traditional nulhas and even removing illegal structures which were obstructing the smooth flow of traffic movement, etc, I made an application to the village panchayat Sarpanch on April 20, 2017 requesting him to construct a protection wall on the above sensitive zone (site), stating all the problems faced by the motorists and with a request to inform me within a week about what is being done regarding the issue.
A month has elapsed and I regret to inform that nothing has been done and also I did not get any reply from the sarpanch. Looking forward and appealing to the concerned authority to take up the matter in the interest of the public safety and prevent the fatal accidents which may occur on this stretch of the road.
