CALANGUTE: Residents of Calangute have said the new traffic island constructed by the panchayat at Bhodkovodd junction is dangerous.
The villagers stated that there was a shop situated inside it and customers have to cross the busy road to enter it which in fact is risky. “Nowhere in Goa, there is a shop inside a traffic circle,” a resident charged.
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The fencing erected alongside the CHOGM road stretch from St Alex Church to Boa Viagem carried by the panchayat poses danger to pedestrians, said Anthony D’Souza, a local resident.
D’Souza stated that the barricades have been erected right at the edge of the road where there is a heavy flow of traffic which often results in accidents.
“The road is also used frequented by pedestrians, specially students and there is every possibility that they could be trapped between vehicles and the fence in case an accident mishap occurs,” stated D’Souza while debating the issue at the Calangute gram sabha.
Besides school children and pedestrians, D’Souza said there are a large number of farmers who carry out agricultural activities in the fields alongside the road and the barricade has blocked their access and urged the panchayat to rectify the issue.
Calangute sarpanch Joseph Sequeira said the panchayat would take steps to solve the problem. “The barricades have been erected in public interest to keep cattle away from entering fields. As and when the farmers want to take tractors to the fields, we will keep a nut-bolt system so the barricades can be removed and then placed back,” the Sarppanch said and added that there would be footpaths on both sides of the road for pedestrians.
Regarding the Bhodkovodd junction, Sequeira said they could not evict the tenant from the traffic island as the matter was sub-judice. The traffic circle was needed for better traffic management at the spot, Sequeira said.
