PANJIM: People, activists and those concerned about the city, have run out of adjectives to describe the chaos Panjim represents today. Once the most beautiful and charming city, with its lazy well laid out streets and a pleasure to take evening strolls, is today in a sad state of complete ruin. Nearly every city road has been dug, throwing the traffic in a tizzy.
Commuters are having a horrifying experience on Panjim Streets with incessant digging on nearly every street. Just when people thought that the nightmare of 2024 digging was over, the Smart City contractors have launched an assault on the streets with added vengeance in the New Year 2025. The streets are either closed without notice, some streets which were one way have become two way and others are closed are closed without forewarning leading to absolute chaos, confusion and fights among commuters.
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The situation is not only exasperating but unbearable to the point that it is driving Panjimites and tourists crazy. The road behind the Old Adil Shah palace has been closed due to digging, thus diverting all the traffic to the Church Square. The traffic congestion which ensures in front of the Panjim Church is mind boggling, with tourists making a beeline to the Church.
City Councilllor Uday Madkaikar said, “There is no place for people to enter the city, roam around. There is no planning. There is no single traffic cop at congestion points. Even as the contractors have to put traffic wardens as per the contract signed, there are no traffic wardens. There is no forewarning. There are no sign boards and there are no indication of diversions. People follow a particular route and then they have to turn all the way back, leading to excruciating traffic congestion.”
The Mahatma Gandhi Road has been dug from the Old Secretariat right up to Don Bosco School and onwards to Caculo Island, St Inez. is totally dug. Closure of this one way road to tourists and locals taking no entry roads leading to fights among commuters.
The road near Panjim Police station too has been dug. There is no concern for commuters to finish one road and then start digging the next road.
The road near the St Inez Junction too has been dug. No sign boards or diversion signs have been put up to let the commuters know which road to take to find a destination.
Some Panjimites complained that the situation is so fluid and scary that even if you take one road and try to return after two hours, that road is closed, since it has been dug.
