Team Herald
PANJIM: A day after the High Court of Bombay at Goa took suo moto cognisance of the traffic congestion in Panjim, the residents of the capital city pinned their hopes on the court to resolve the issue of traffic congestion arising from ongoing works implemented under Smart City Mission, works undertaken in view of G20 Summit and the resurfacing work of Atal Setu bridge.
After the construction of the cruise boats jetty terminal at the Santa Monica Jetty the congestion at the entry of the Panjim is going to increase manifold. There is a petition pending before the HC for hearing which expresses the above possibility.
Taking the petition as the basis for the suo moto cognisance the High Court has made the Transport, Tourism, Public Works Department, the Corporation of the City of Panaji and the Smart City works agency respondents in the case and has put them on notice.
O Heraldo has consistently reported on the impact of the closure of the Atal Setu Bridge for the resurfacing work which sent the entire traffic situation in Panjim, Merces Circle, and the Porvorim roads for a toss recently. Traffic jams are witnessed in the heart of the city as several works are currently being executed under the Smart City Mission.
“Absolutely agree with the High Court which has to be congratulated for taking cognisance in this matter. I hope the HC takes more actions of this type, to bring this errant government to task,” said Armando Gonsalves, a well-known resident of Campal.
“There are some good judges in the High Court, and frankly, the courts are the only hope of this embattled citizenry that has had enough of this madness. I have great faith in the Judiciary, and it’s nice to know that it is doing its job,” he added.
Gonsalves said that accountability is a must, adding that the people in command should be penalised aggressively by the court, including exemplary arrests for the criminal actions on their part.
“These people include politicians as well as executives of various bodies that are supposed to be working for the people, but are busy doing things against the people by funding all this madness via taxpayers’ money,” he said.
“With High Court intervening, the residents of Panjim hope for major relief from traffic chaos in and around the city. Let’s hope for the best,” former Mayor and senior-most councillor, Surendra Furtado said.
Sameer Naik, an IT professional and a resident of Miramar said that the High Court should order quality checks of the projects that have been already completed by different government departments.
“Some of the works are shoddy and the agencies or the department who have executed should not be spared because public money is spent for such works,” he said.
Shazib Sheikh, who works at a mobile shop in Panjim market, opined that the court should give necessary directions to the concerned departments to ensure that pre-monsoon works are taken up and completed before the onset of the monsoon.