Basuri Desai
basuri@herald-goa.com
It was nearly a year ago that the State government led by then Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar had started the four-laning of the Merces-Old Goa bypass road stating that part of it would be completed before the exposition of the holy relics of St Francis Xavier in November. However, even ten months after the deadline, the work is far from over.
The situation is become so bad that that the residents of Ribandar and Kadamba plateau are demanding the government’s immediate intervention into the delay in the completion of the road.
The situation has reached such a level that the citizens are now planning a rasta-roko. Though there is a ban on light vehicular movement through the bypass road, heavy traffic continues to flow on the risky stretch and this has become a major issue for residents of the area.
The situation along the 12km stretch is very dangerous and the risk of driving on this road has now doubled due to the monsoon season.
There have been a couple of incidents with smaller cars, which have been stuck in the piles of mud. The road has become bumpy and laden with deep potholes but due to the congestion on the parallel old Riabandar-Old Goa road, commuters opt for this road.
With water accumulated at various places, it is very difficult to point out the potholes and at night the situation gets even worse as there is no illumination.
Most of the residents who have access from the old narrow road have now stopped using this road but the residents, who have their residences on the Merces side have no choice but to use this road.
Some of the vehicular traffic is also diverted from Merces village road. The construction of the road commenced in October 2014 and was supposed to be completed by the end of May 2015. But unfortunately, there is no sign of it being completed even by May 2016.
Besides the bumpy road, residents also suffer due to dust pollution created by constant vehicular movement on the muddy road.
In May 2015, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) even served notices to the contractor for the pollution in the locality and asked to take measures to control it. But sadly, the notices bore no results.
Prasad Patil, resident of Navelkar Hill City who shifted his residence from Kadamba Plateau to Porvorim due to daily congestion and bad roads which affected his daily schedule said that the government has to be strict on the time frame which they give to the developmental agencies or else penalize them for not completing the project in due time.
“It was a very peaceful area and that is the reason why I preferred Kadamba Plateau as a resident. Most of the people preferred it only because of this advantage. It was away from any kind of pollution as well but unfortunately the entire area has become unbearable now only because of the construction of the new corridor and traffic on the old narrow road,” said Dharmesh Rawal, a local resident.
Nilesh Hindad, who is a young entrepreneur said, “Life has become miserable due to this road. I am not against development but it should be properly planned. All the residents are suffering due to the delay in construction.”
Sachin Jadhav who is also a local resident said that the village road from Chimbel and Merces is also crowded as some of the light vehicles are diverting through villages to skip at least half of the bad road.
