Successive Councils of the Margao Municipality since 1978 have sent proposals for development of parking hubs in the city, none of which moved ahead of the proposal level. On today’s date, more than 300 vehicles in Margao are either parked in non-parking areas or are floating traffic, causing congestion. In addition to the woes, more than 1000 buses enter and exit the city every day. The old fish market area, the pickup stand and also the city bus stand are the prime areas which have been looked upon as parking places for decades. The veterans blame it on lack of political will and the habitants of Margao blame the Municipality and MLA for the problems.
The previous Municipal Meeting saw Chairperson Arthur D’silva pushing on the demand for converting the land of the pickup stand into pay parking for vehicles coming to Margao. D’silva was also heard saying, “If the Government cannot fund us for the parking project, I will fund the project and get it done. There has been enough of waiting. This is the sentiment of almost all the city visitors and dwellers.”
Herald met a Veteran Chairperson of MMC, Dr. Gopal Vaidya to know more on the issues of parking in the past. “In the year 1978, I had moved a proposal for a Ground + 2 parking at the old fish market site behind the MMC. The Council had unanimously resolved for it, but as it happens today, it never moved beyond a proposal,” said Dr. Vaidya. “The police station was actually planned to be pushed back and the area of the city bus stand was to be converted into a parking lot for the town. But the whole planning failed after the town was planned as we see it today,” he added. He went on to say that all his ambitious projects were shelved due to political reasons and the same still continues and that the MMC needs political influence for their work to be passed.
Margao local and businessman, Sunil Naik has strongly criticized the local MLA and the council for the parking and traffic fiasco. “Margao MLA loses 1000 votes if he goes ahead with the ring road and that is the reason he is not starting the road work,” said Naik. “Most of the commercial buildings in Margao are not in compliance with the parking norms of underground car parks and others,” he went on to inform. A group of Madgaonkars had given a memorandum to the former chief minister, Manohar Parrikar asking for a solution on various fundamental problems of Margao, but sadly nothing happened.
The MMC and the local MLA have been lambasted by almost all the people affected due to these problems. Ambitious projects like a 300 car multi-level parking and also a 100 car hydraulic parking have been shelved in the past. The only successful bike parking is in operation opposite the Kadamba Bus Stand but still has some maintenance issues.
Margao traffic police are usually kept busy on with errant public transport buses that usually make unauthorized and unscheduled halts in the busy areas of Margao that often leads to traffic congestion and affects the smooth flow of city traffic.
Incidentally, in the past, Gajanan Prabhudesai, former deputy superintendent of police (traffic), had made a written proposal to the road transport authority and the sub divisional magistrate (SDM), asking that city buses should not be allowed to halt at the State Bank of India stop.
He has suggested that passengers coming to Margao in buses should be allowed to disembark at the old bus stand, instead of near State Bank of India, as is presently being done. He said the buses can then proceed to the KTC bus stand.
Furthermore, traders of Margao’s congested New Market have made a forceful plea to the Margao Municipality and traffic officials to introduce pay parking in and around the market area.
President of the New Market Traders Association, Vinod Shirodkar said that pay parking would bring about discipline in the market area, with every inch of open space utilised for vehicular parking. “Shop owners and employees of adjoining commercial buildings eat into the market parking space by parking their vehicles from morning to evening. We are confident that pay parking would create additional space for vehicles in the new market. We do not mind if the traders have to pay for parking,” he said.
Incidentally, within days of taking charge as the state’s chief minister in 2012, Manohar Parrikar held deliberations over Margao’s maddening traffic congestion and parking problems with senior police officials, including traffic police, over short and long-term measures at the old South Goa collectorate, Margao.
Even before his reign, during the tenure of the erstwhile Congress government, in February 2011, a Pune-based project developer delivered a presentation to the then chairperson of the MMC, Susheela Naik, and other councillors at the South Goa collectorate where then chief minister, Digambar Kamat was present. The company representative was also shown the area near the KTC bus stand which was then tentatively identified by the MMC for the proposed project. The developer had placed various funding options in front of the MMC and the government for financing the project, including BOT (build-operate transfer), BOOT (build-own-operate-transfer) and PPP (private-public-participation) models. The plan was aborted even before it could be perceived.
Fast forward to the present scenario in June 2015 and there hasn’t been any conceivable change in the traffic or parking scenario in the city. Haphazard parking, parking in no-parking zones, ‘double parking’, ‘idle parking’ is the order of the day. The traffic cops are literally helpless in reining in the offenders for want of an effective parking system — the problem whose genesis lies in severe traffic congestion.
