MARGAO: It’s a daily hassle for commuters traveling into Margao with roads in the commercial town chock-a-block with traffic. Against this backdrop, the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) has failed to ease these problems faced by the commuters and residents of Margao. Although, not adhering to civic sense and traffic rules by those driving or riding their vehicles also adds to the traffic mess. From some vehicles moving in a no-entry zone to buses being driven recklessly to vehicles being double parked or parked wrongly, it is a major problem. And during the monsoons, it is even more chaotic.
Advocate Moses Pinto, who has written a book titled Practice Traffic Yoga, has an in-depth view of this menace.
At the onset, he suggests that the areas where the municipality can intervene and make a difference in, is the setback areas of the buildings, which he points out is occupied, thus narrowing the width of the roads.
Another daily commuter, Sachin Bandodkar had similar views as to where the problem lies.
“Hardly any commercial complexes in Margao have dedicated parking areas or underground parking for the people coming to the establishments. All these vehicles spill over to the roadsides,” said Sachin.
The common complaint is that MMC’s biggest failure is not managing to have a multi-level car parking facility. This has been an issue plaguing the town for years and every year, the number of vehicles on the road increase and there is still no dedicated parking place or facility.
Adv Moses adds, “The Margao Municipal Council needs to form a consensus about proactively conducting their affairs in a consistent manner that is harmonious with the aim of reducing traffic congestion in the town and simultaneously increasing the road surface area so as to enable better access to the parking facilities and an improved public transportation network with predesignated stops.”
Adv Moses further added that parking is an important issue that needs to be addressed by engaging all stakeholders in the city; and that MMC should act as a coordinator for these activities, to create new parking solutions in the city.
The MMC has also been sent several proposals for creating pay parking and parking areas but none have seen the light of the day.
When it comes to the traffic department, it took the unfortunate and tragic incident where Swapnil Walke, a jeweller from Margao was murdered, for the cops to have a functional CCTV system given that at least 23 surveillance cameras are working now, something that was absent earlier.
While the video feed from these CCTVs are being monitored by the traffic department, the MMC is also checking the same, although there is little they can do in the matters of regulating traffic.
The Deputy Superintendent of Police (South Goa Traffic Cell) Prabodh Shirwaikar stated that they have been utilizing the CCTV feed to good use.
“We monitor the traffic congestion through the CCTV surveillance. We depute staff where we notice there is a problem” he informed.
MMC Chief Officer, Agnelo Fernandes pointed out that they are monitoring the feed of the CCTVs but admitted that there is no system devised yet, to take action against the encroachments of roads.
