PANJIM: Vehicular movement towards Cortalim from Verna and vice versa from Cortalim to Verna was diverted from Monday on NH66 from 11 pm at night till 7 am the next morning. This arrangement will be in place for a period of four months
When Herald contacted some of the commuters who took the new diversion for the first time, they questioned why the concerned authorities had not done enough preparation work before the diversion began.
Lack of streetlights on long parts of the new diversion including the main highway connecting Verna to Dabolim was a major bone of contention, especially for those who are trying to figure out the new diversion for the first time.
“There is low visibility and on the first night, there was no heavy rain. Imagine if there were heavy rains – commuters would not be able to spot speed breakers, potholes due to the low visibility or vehicles coming in from the opposite direction. It’s a quite scary picture and there could be an accident if this situation continues as it is,” said Rohan Dias, a resident of Nuvem who works in Panjim in the hospitality industry.
Another major point was the lack of clear signboards or adequate traffic personnel present on the new stretch to help direct the traffic.
While there were numerous traffic police on both points where the diversion begins and ends, commuters questioned what would happen if there was an accident in the middle of the stretch and the difficulty they would face in alerting the police. Locals were upset with the road conditions where you could barely see any potholes and speed breakers.
“It can get a bit confusing. In the middle of the night when it’s pitch dark and it’s not easy to navigate. You have tourists stopping and turning as they took a wrong turn and vehicles had slow down suddenly to avoid any kind of accident,” added Aditya Borkar from Panjim, who works at the Verna industrial estate.
The problems with roads that have potholes and non-functioning streetlights at certain stretches are there on the other diversion also i.e via Loutolim and also if one had to take the inner roads via Loutlolim or Sancoale.
Commuters also felt that instead of shutting down the entire 3.6 km and making commuters travel 22 km via the new diversion, they could have blocked only parts of the Cortalim to Verna stretch, as there are lanes along this highway that allow commuters to bypass the stretch of road where the construction work for the new bridge is underway.
“Clearly this shows poor planning of the authorities where these kinds of problems could have been avoided at the drawing board itself. Earlier they wanted to shut the road for one year,” added a local resident from the Cortalim – Aravelem stretch.
While they have had to bear the brunt of the problems with dust pollution and the much delayed and ongoing construction of drainage system, they further point out that the one-way small stretch from Cortalim junction to Zuari should have been open by now. Traffic police had earlier stated that it would be open by June 1. They question if the predicted deadline for the new night diversion will really end by October 15 or will get delayed further.
