VASCO/MARGAO: Thousands of four wheelers from outside the State coupled with Goa’s own vehicles were stuck on both sides of the Zuari bridge, for yet another day as the traffic situation in the meeting point between North and South Goa, got worse. Leading upto the New Year, with more and more outstation vehicles entering Goa, this spot has become a huge bottleneck leading to frayed tempers and very angry motorists. The number of outstation cars of EDM fans from neighbouring states driving in for the two electronic music festivals has made traffic reach tipping point.
Huge serpentine queues of vehicles were seen at Cortalim Junction as the installation of dividers forced vehicles to stick to a single line. Some motorists have blamed the police and government for traffic jams. The security barricades, which serve no purpose other than slow down vehicles (since no serious checks are done) have compounded the chaos.
Speaking to Herald, Minguel Fernandes who was proceeding from Margao to Vasco blamed the government for allowing the musical events to happen during the Christmas season. “Local tourists flock to Goa to celebrate Christmas and New Year and due to the musical fests more tourists come to Goa with their vehicles, which create traffic jams,” Fernandes argued, adding, “Instead of permitting the musical festival in December, the State government should permit it in April or May, which will avoid traffic chaos on the roads,” he said.
Another motorist, Shaik Naquib, said the government has failed to expand roads, as vehicles have multiplied hundred times. “Goa has a population of 16 lakh and there are 9 lakh vehicles besides 5 lakh tourists. The government should plan the new bridge with six lanes, which will help to regulate the traffic.”
The jam affected kings and commoners, in a manner of speaking. Former chief minister Digambar Kamat stuck in the jam while returning to Margao called Herald and said “I have never witnessed such a mess in my life. There is no management and there is no control. People will come to blows out of frustration and blame each other since tempers are rising.”
Other motorists said by installing dividers and converting traffic into one line, it has solved traffic congesting at the mouth of the bridge. They added that with streamlining of the traffic, accidents are avoided. However with the added inflow of vehicles, this streamlining has slowed down vehicle movement near the mouth of the bridge.
“There is heavy influx of vehicles from outside the state almost 1 lakh four-wheelers have come in,” SP traffic Arvind Gawas told Herald.
He also said that there were 12 policemen stationed near the bridge – 6 on each side.
Meanwhile, DySP Traffic, South Guruprasad Mhapne is personally supervising traffic. Mhapne too attributed the situation on the single lane road to the heavy rush of vehicles, mostly outstation vehicles to the state, to usher in the New Year.
But he admitted that manpower constraints have added to the problem, saying the deployment of security personnel in place of traffic cops has not helped.
He did not concur that the road dividers had added to the traffic mess. “If there were no dividers, there would have been overtaking, aggravating the problem further,” he said, adding, “We have to understand that the road in question is a single lane road, which has to take heavy traffic load during this peak season. Things should fall in place after the New Year celebration.”
While a large number of traffic police including traffic PI Sudesh Narvekar of Vasco police station has been shifted to Candolim to man traffic in the music festival zone of North Goa, a few traffic police from Vasco and Margao are on the bridge literally non-stop due to large traffic volumes.
