MARGAO'S "SUFFOCATED" ROADS - 2
By Valmiki Faleiro
Intra-state private passenger buses are the other 50% cause of traffic
congestion on
Margao's thoroughfares. Don't take my word on this. The next time buses go on
strike, see how traffic glides, ever so smoothly!
Out of the KTC terminus, buses crawl along arterial but two-laned roads into
town.
They hamper traffic flow, if not holding it up altogether with sudden stops,
often in the
middle of the road, to take in passengers. One can't argue with bus drivers.
They are
privileged citizens. They routinely pay the police and RTO. You and I don't.
Private bus crews are a law unto themselves. Not long ago a bus driver,
questioned
by the Salcete Deputy Collector outside the district collectorate, physically
abused
the latter. Old discipline is dead, together with the likes of Dy. Director of
Transport,
Venkatesh Kamat and Traffic Police ASI, Mario Valaradares. Both didn't hesitate
to
pull out an uncouth driver and give him a little physical treatment in full
public view.
Crawling into the heart of town, buses can halt for a minute to pick/disembark
passengers by the Salcete Comunidades building (and near the two Jain temples at
Pajifond for Quepem-bound buses.) But they linger at will. Out of town, they
turn into
speeding monsters, racing with competition, often killing or maiming people.
Traffic policemen are invariably present at both points, but they are not there
to
regulate buses. They are there to collect a "hafta" from every bus exiting
Margao.
How can one expect the poor constable to shoo away the hand that feeds him?
One solution to this menace is to preclude private buses from entering town. All
south and southeast-bound buses can be diverted via a road, long proposed in the
Margao ODP, linking the Ravindra Bhavan junction to the Eastern Bypass, by the
southern banks of the two Borda lakes. Instead of constructing this vital link
on
priority basis, people's heritage walls and houses are currently being
destroyed to
widen the existing (and parallel) St. Joaquim road!
This diversion would entail an alternate arrangement for passengers from the KTC
bus terminal to all halts previously covered by private intra-state buses in
the town.
This can be done with a round-robin KTC minibus shuttle service. The State must
provide this service either free or at a heavily subsidized rate. Commuters
must not
be made to pay for the sins of private bus operators and law enforcement
agencies.
No thought has been spared, in our brand of democracy where numbers count, to
the
largest segment of road users: pedestrians. Crossing a busy street has now
become
a daytime nightmare to able-bodied pedestrians, forget the unaided aged and
infirm.
This even at notified pedestrian crossings, where zebra lines are clearly
visible to
oncoming motorists.
Motorists, before being issued a driving licence, are supposed to learn that
pedestrians at a zebra crossing have a first right of road use. The opposite
prevails in
Goa!
Pedestrians are not privileged to instruction on prudent road usage practices
nor
need a "walking licence" to use a road. Most roads are also bereft of pavements.
People are forced to walk along treacherous roads and unfortunate ones who do
that
with their backs to oncoming traffic often get mowed down.
Re-paint existing zebra crossings and provide more in Margao's central
commercial
area. Most of all, stiffly penalize motorists to create awareness about a
pedestrian's
right at a zebra crossing.
In Margao's central area, the roads around New Market have also long cried to
be a
pedestrian-only zone during daytime.
As a well-meaning friend (and one-time municipal colleague), I would urge Goa's
current "Aam Aadmi" Chief Minister to remember the wise words of Goa's second
Lieutenant Governor, M R Sachdev. In his first address to Goa's first
Legislative
Assembly, at its very first sitting, he had said, "No amount of development is
worth
anything unless the man in the street feels that the administration is being
run in the
interest and for the benefit of the people at large."
P.S.: With this, dear reader, *All-'n'-Sundry* takes your leave. This is the
last piece
for now. Thank you for reading and, as the French say, 'Au revoir.' Inshallah!
(ENDS)
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The above article appeared in the Herald, Goa, edition of November 15, 2009
*Comments welcome at valmi...@gmail.com
