Considering that pay parking system, one-way traffic and a multi-storey car park has by and large failed to curb the traffic menace in the city, the State government has decided to chalk out an elaborate ‘management plan’ to streamline traffic.
Plagued by acute parking problem, narrow and poor road conditions, the city also witnesses huge traffic violations. Ironically, while Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar dreams of making Panjim a Smart City by spending Rs 500 crores, the authorities are yet to find a solution to the increasing traffic woes.
In the Budget 2017-18, Parrikar proposed to draft and implement a dedicated traffic management plan for Panjim besides Margao, Vasco, Mapusa and Ponda to solve the traffic congestion. However, the government also has a major task of curbing violations by strictly enforcing the existing traffic rules.
“Passenger road traffic in Goa has increased tremendously. In order to cope up with the traffic load, new bus terminus especially at Panjim, Mapusa and Bicholim in North Goa and Margao in South Goa are required to be built on a fast track basis. I propose to undertake up-gradation of these terminuses with ultra-modern state of art facilities. I propose to undertake both these projects on PPP mode,” he said while presenting the Budget last week.
During the last BJP-led rule from 2012-17, the government introduced multi-level parking and one-way traffic in a bid to reduce the menace, particularly during the peak hours and tourist season. Similarly, Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) started pay parking at 18 major locations. However, this move also failed to yield fruitful result with double parking scenario continuing at many places. The contractors, deployed by the CCP, charging hefty fees were reportedly found to be embroiled in a scam.
CCP Mayor Surendra Furtado has welcomed the government’s proposal stating it was high time that the traffic situation in the city be tackled. “It is high time we need a proper traffic management. The current traffic scenario is haphazard and chaotic. Even after the pay parking, we see double and triple parking at many places,” he told Herald. The CCP, he said, will lend full support to the government for the upcoming plan.
A study by the Charles Correa Foundation, over two years ago has pointed out at the ‘extremely chaotic traffic directions in Panjim with apparently no clarity either in road capacity or overall movement of vehicles at a larger level.’
The one-way lanes in most places in the Central Business District (CBD), the report had stated were used for double parking, thus obstructing the free movement of other vehicles. Since the CBD was planned during the late 19th century, the width of roads hardly ever catered to the traffic volume of the present day. So also, the junctions proved to be narrower for free vehicular movement. There were even objections by some commercial establishments for pay parking, despite which it was implemented about a year ago.
The Traffic Cell claims to have already begun strict enforcement of the traffic rules even as it conceded that violations are evident in the city. “Things are in pipeline which cannot be disclosed at the moment. We can only divulge that the traffic scenario will change for good in near future, and implementation has already begun,” North Traffic DySP Dharmesh Angle told Herald.
The Panjim traffic cell has found that major traffic violations in the city are wrong parking including double parking and entering the wrong lanes.
