PANJIM: Thousands of local residents and tourists enjoyed the Carnival 2017 float parade that commenced in Panjim on Saturday. Lining up along the MG Road, from Divja Circle to Kala Academy, they cheered King Momo Tome Fernandes as he declared the four-day festival open. There were 83 floats besides dance troupes entertaining the people along the route.
The floats carried awareness messages covering social, environmental themes and animal rights. The highlight was a float demanding justice for Bismarque Dias, a priest turned activist, who died under mysterious circumstances in November 2015.
As anticipated by the Tourism Department a large number of tourists mingled with the local crowd to enjoy the show. While the department is compiling figures, Tourism Director Sanjeev Gauns Dessai said, “We had a massive number of tourists this year. The inflow is more than that recorded at the last Carnival. We expect more visitors during the next three days,” he said.
While a large number of tourists came via air and rail, despite escalating fares, several others drove down or came by buses. A senior tourism official said hundreds of non-Goa registration vehicles entered the State on Saturday. “Many vehicles from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka entered the city. Being a weekend, the crowd was more. There were many others who had rented local bikes to move around,” he said.
The event, however, was marred by traffic chaos as commuters faced hardships to reach their destinations. A three kilometer stretch took no less than 40 minutes to traverse while those entering Panjim from Saligao spent around 90 minutes on the road. “The traffic was crawling. At certain places the vehicles were not moving for quite a long time. This happens every year,” said a motorist.
The Panjim Carnival Committee screened the float vehicles to ensure none violate the rules laid down by the committee while also abiding by the Motor Vehicles Act. Junk and modified vehicles and indecency were banned this year.
Corporation of City of Panjim Commissioner Deepak Desai confirmed that the participants cooperated with the directions laid down by the committee. “We screened all the floats before the parade commenced in the capital. There was no violation reported. It was a success,” he told Herald. The committee had also decided that float vehicles be driven by licensed driver only. “The drivers were licensed and vehicles were checked for the fitness as well,” he said adding that the committee had roped in RTO officials for the purpose.
