TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Comba was plunged into traffic chaos on Wednesday noon, with the subway inundated with water and no traffic policemen around to regulate traffic at the railway level crossing.
Though the monsoon has set in, the water pump is yet to make its presence at the subway to flush out water. Motorists questioned the absence of the traffic police to regulate traffic at level crossing during peak hours in the morning and afternoon when traffic personnel are mostly seen along the NH-17 at Nuvem and Dramapur-Sirlim under the guise of enforcement.
It took more than half an hour for the traffic to stabilise as all the roads leading to the educational institutions – Vidya Vikas Mandal, Damodar Science, Loyola high school and Popular high school – witnessed bumper-to-bumper traffic.
What made matters worse was the fact that a four-wheeler broke down inside the inundated subway, bringing all traffic plying via the subway to a halt. Motorists and parents were an agitated after they found no policemen around to regulate the traffic. They demanded that DySP Traffic Guruprasad Mhapne and PI Prabodh Shirwaikar come down on the road at Comba during peak hours and monitor the problem faced by parents and students alike.
When Herald contacted PI Shirwaikar, he said that his motley group of policemen was manning other traffic points in the city, leaving him with not a single personnel for deployment near the railway crossing. “We face shortage of around 40 police personnel and I cannot afford to deploy any personnel at the Comba level crossing,” he said, but had no answer when questioned why traffic police are dispatched on the NH-17 when the traffic cell is under staffed and cannot manage the city traffic.
PI Shirwaikar said that his motley group of policemen was manning other traffic points in Margao, leaving him with not a single personnel for deployment near the railway crossing at Comba
