CANACONA: With the authorities diverting all the heavy motor vehicles coming from Western and Southern side of Goa via Canacona, the whole stretch of the NH66 road from Polem to Balli has become a virtual accident zone.

The latest accident to be reported was in Mashem in which a multi-axle truck carrying unprocessed ore veered off the road on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

The driver of the 14-tyred truck carrying about 40 tonnes of ore from Karnataka to a factory in Ponda lost control over his vehicle ultimately dashing it to the roadside wall. Fortunately, the driver and cleaner of the truck escaped unhurt.

“The section of NH66 road from Polem to Balli which is about 50 km is very bad, and even after the media reporting at least one accident every day, the National Highway authorities have not come out with any plan to reduce the misshaps,” complained Satish Painginkar, ex-deputy sarpanch of Poiguinim.

“The stoppage of heavy vehicles by traffic police on the road is in fact creates a panicky situation for the vehicle operators and also blocks the clear view of the road ahead,” a local Vishant Prabhu complained.

The law enforcement agencies are mostly seen at blind turns stopping vehicles to check for documentation which hardly reduces accidents on this stretch.

Since the beginning of this year over 100 accidents have occurred; though they were not fatal, it cannot be said the same thing of future accidents.

The locals have urged the local administration to fix sign boards alerting the drivers of the blind curves, schools, speed breakers and speed limits.