shweta@herald-goa.com
The St Inez locality- housing emergency units like two major private hospitals and Fire and Emergency Services- always remains a busy street with heavy traffic throughout the day. The only shopping mall- Caculo- also situated in the vicinity attracts a large crowd, especially in the evenings and over weekends- further adding to the traffic woes. There are no traffic police in place to streamline vehicular flow.
St. Inez is a well-developed area of the capital city having government quarters, residential complexes, houses, small bars and restaurants, hotels, emergency services, and religious institutions, thus being crowded 24×7. The two major cross junctions- near Caculo mall and one right ahead of St Inez Church- are slowly proving to be accident zones. In the recent past, several minor accidents involving two and four wheelers have been reported here.
Locals complain about the failures of the concerned authority towards streamlining the traffic system, which goes off-hand during the peak hours. People explain how on several occasions, ambulances and fire fighting vehicles get stranded in the absence of proper traffic management.
“This is a crucial traffic junction and you find no police here to man the traffic, even during peak hours. As the situation goes out of control, locals themselves help in smoothening flow of vehicles,” N Naik, a shopkeeper from the area said. He explained that police are seen at the site only during the Film Festival (IFFI), Carnival and Shigmo parade or during church feasts. The shopkeeper and local resident also highlighted the plight of commuters suffering due to the poor road conditions and the narrow road width.
When contacted, Director of Fire and Emergency Services, Ashok Menon, without disclosing the difficulty they find at time of emergency, said that it’s high time traffic police are placed at the required areas. “It is a known fact that huge traffic congestion takes place along the St Inez stretch. People need to be on ground…there is a need to streamline the traffic flow,” he said.
While the locals were trying to cope with the situation of increasing traffic, it worsened with the coming up of the shopping mall in the locality. While authorities like the Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP) made some arrangements to handle the situation, it went out of its control too, in the recent past.
The haphazard parking along the stretch around the Fire and Emergency Service headquarters and the government residential complexes has further created a chaotic situation in the vicinity with no proper space for vehicular traffic and residents complaining about mall visitors occupying their personal parking space.
“People park their vehicles in the no parking areas. Four-wheelers, especially are a menace there. They park along the entire road stretch where the government buildings are located. One car stops in the middle of the road and there is traffic chaos,” Shraddha Naik, a St Inez resident said.
Following repeated complaints from residents who were backed by the local councillors, CCP resolved to demarcate parking areas. The decision taken was to allow parking on only one side of the road and not on both sides of the road around the mall. However, the illegal parking continued and for the last one month or so, the contractors appointed to impose fines, also stands cancelled.
Local ward councillor Shweta Lotlikar suggested that traffic police could be posted at the spot during peak hours. “The Government needs to look into this issue seriously as traffic is increasing on a daily basis. There is no proper management,” she said.
