Commuting along the roads in Siolim constituency is turning out to be a nightmare for motorists. Such is the situation in the constituency is that these roads, which were repaired years ago, have developed potholes and some have been washed away following the recent heavy downpour.
Leave aside internal roads, the main three routes — Siolim Church to Mapusa via Marna, Siolim Tar to Mapusa via Sodiem and Siolim church to Anjuna via Assagao have developed potholes and are in pathetic condition. Commuters have no other option but to travel along these three main routes to reach their respective destinations – Mapusa, Pernem and Panjim.
The authorities even tried to fill these potholes with temporary hot mix but the same got washed off within 15 days following heavy rains and some minor accidents have been reported as motorists while trying to avoid these potholes end up ramming their vehicles into each other.
Sioilm is one of the tourist destinations as domestic as well as foreign tourists throng to the famous Chapora Fort and Vagator beach. There is continuous movement of domestic and foreign tourists in Siolim throughout the day. The locals feel being a tourist destination, the government should provide better infrastructure.
The bad roads and stray animals too cause of traffic congestion in Siolim.
According to Francis Fernandes, a resident, “It’s been years the roads in Siolim are not repaired. The authorities are involved in a blame game and often give the monsoon excuse but now with the monsoons over, the authorities have failed to take up the repair work”.
“Before people use to take the Siolim to Mapusa road via Holy Cross School but now since that road has developed potholes, people are forced to take the other route – from Siolim church to Mapusa via Marna but this road too has turned bad. It’s been years that the roads in Siolim are not repaired, said a daily commuter.
The authorities, be it the panchayat or the PWD, have failed to take up hotmixing of these roads as several minor accidents have been reported along these routes. Government has been stressing that the commuters need to follow traffic rules to avoid accidents but what about the bad roads, which have caused accidents. We don’t know why is the government repairing these bad roads”, said Sunil, a resident.
