The situation has become so terrible that in normal circumstances it would take a vehicle less than 5 minutes to cross Hospicio junction and reach the old collectorate building but given the present traffic conditions, it takes 15 minutes.
“The traffic is so bad especially during peak hours that it is difficult for us to cross the road and you can imagine how difficult then it must be for us to manoeuvre our vehicles; be it for parking or just to stop near our house so we can enter or exit our vehicles,” said a local resident who lives near Club Harmonia.
Activist Jose Maria Miranda said that the PWD had to ensure that the work was done properly and pointed out that while the road had been dug up for sewerage works, it had not been properly covered and there was only muddy patchwork.
“With the rains, this could lead to further sinking and if this road is filled with potholes, it is going to create a lot of problems in days to come,” said Miranda while referring to similar examples of bad road conditions in Margao due to poor covering of the roads after the digging work was completed.
Commuters also complained that because of the slow traffic and that the road from the stretch of Anafonte Garden to the post-office Margao was dug up in the centre, it was making it cumbersome for vehicles leaving Margao and heading towards Hospicio. So much so that it has literally become one-way traffic on this stretch for vehicles heading towards Margao and many a times, whenever a vehicle tries to overtake and beat the line, there are two lines of vehicles on that stretch of road proceeding towards Margao. “Look at the traffic coming to Marliz Café, it’s a mess. Also the area in front of the post office and the municipal garden now has cars being parked on it as there is no one taking this road except for two-wheelers and this is leading to even more traffic congestion in front of Grace church and towards the municipality,“added Dilip Kane from Margao.
PWD DIV 21 assistant engineer, Ganesh Velip stated that the road right from Club Harmona to Kamat Meghdoot via Mabai hotel is being undertaken by JICA and they are supposed to finish the laying of pipelines and complete the patchwork of the road.
Velip added that all work in Margao, including Aquem Royal hospital area will be taken up and completed in the next two days.
While the PWD is monitoring the work the Margao road where tarring work has already commenced, executive engineer Shivaji Jadhav said he is personally camping at the site along Club Harmonia and Mabai hotel. He added that JICA and the PWD were completing all the work in the next two days and that labourers have been put there to work around the clock to ensure that the road work is completed at the earliest. This includes patchwork restoration to avoid any hardship to motorists, taking into account that it is a busy road for traffic.
