The government of Goa, with the assistance of the Centre, has been building infrastructure over the past two decades and the State has been witnessing constructional development from bridges, road expansions, bypasses and flyovers. However, with these projects, there also has been a proportionate rise in the number of accidents that take place every day. Those that are major and involve severe damage or injuries are reported in the newspapers. But those that are very minor, often end up being compromised by the affected parties and never get reported or registered in the books of the Police station, or any other records. In such circumstances, there doesn’t seem that there’s any positive change due to development of infrastructure.
On the other hand, a question arises, with so much infrastructure development, it would have been expected that the number of accidents, and fatalities should have reduced, but on the contrary, data shows that according to per capita accidents in comparison to the State’s population, Goa is among top ranking States in road accidents.
So what are the reasons? Could there have been better plans by the government to mitigate the issue of accidents and fatalities?
Year on year, there has been an increase in the number of private vehicles that are running on Goan roads. In addition, renting of cars and two-wheelers, which began as a small self-employment and entrepreneurship initiative, has now taken the shape of an industry in itself. Therefore, the number of vehicles doesn’t seem to reduce. The impact of the rented vehicles can be seen on the roads and their involvement in accidents shouldn’t go unnoticed. Most of the accidents that involve rental vehicles go unregistered, unless they involve serious injuries or fatalities, as the tourists do not wish to get entangled in the web of police procedures and willingly to pay the ‘price’ to avoid legal action.
While the number of private vehicles is on a constant rise, on the other hand, the government has seemingly slowly recused itself from its responsibility of providing efficient public transport. There was a time when people preferred public transport as it would connect them to the last mile of their journey. However, with the growing population and the growing demand, instead of increasing the number of buses we often see that the rickety buses are turned redundant and taken off the road but newer buses are not inducted into the fleet. It is commendable that the government wants green and fuel-efficient vehicles to run on the roads. But it’s ironic, that while on the one hand you champion the cause of green fuel, on the other hand the same government is OK with hundreds and thousands of fossil fuel-based private vehicles being purchased every month and running on the roads, adding to the traffic in the State.
Wouldn’t it have been better if the same government, which has been investing thousands of crores of rupees in building additional infrastructure to accommodate the growing number of vehicles, had invested a part of the budget in creating a better public transportation system? Goans are beginning to feel fatigued by the constant road diversions and added traffic congestion delays on every national highway as well as a State highway. As a result of this delay, more than often motorists are in a hurry to get to their destination, leading to accidents. And if not loss of lives, there are certainly financial losses due to the damage to the vehicles and also loss of time.
Citizens have already begun to face the brunt of traffic on portions of the national highway from Porvorim to Guirim being diverted to service roads. Slowing down of traffic due to minor accidents every hour of the day and night, and in addition, the loss of time and utilisation of additional fuel is pinching the pockets and minds of the citizens.
On the contrary, citizens using public transport in Panjim City have begun to appreciate the initiative to launch e-buses for intra-city travel under the Smart City mission. Citizens expect the government to undertake development to enhance the ease of living for the people of the State and the tourists that arrive in lakhs every year.
The government needs to review its priorities and investment plans, inorder to ensure that citizens feel satisfied and the government performs better.