from daijiworld's special correspondent

Panaji, Jul 26: The volunteers of the Raia Civic and Consumer Forum, villagers of  Ambora and Camorlim along with Goa Civic and Consumer Action Network.(GOACAN) held a protest demonstration at Tembi to highlight the road safety and traffic management issues of the area.

The protestors held a two hour action armed with placards with slogans highlighting the specific issue of the road widening that has been neglected by the Public Works Department (PWD) for over ten years. Although the land acquisition process had been initiated many years ago the PWD has been dragging its feet for the last three years when they have to compensate the land owners and widen the road.

Tembi-Camorlim has become a death trap with hundreds of heavy vehicles which come from the NH 4A in Ponda via Borim go through the village at break neck speed and as the road has not been widened are unable to negotiate the sharp turns and therefore crash into peoples homes. As per the plans of the Goa Govt. the road was to be widened from Raia to Borim via Ambora and Camorlim villages, however there has been no action forthcoming from the PWD.

To add insult to injury the PWD had recently hotmixed a stretch of the road near the Ambora bus stop which has become very slippery due to some fault in the materials used in the hotmixing process. This has resulted in over one hundred accidents in the last month after the start of the monsoons, with one accident causing a lot of damage to the Ambora bus shelter.

The Ambora youth who participated in today's protest action stated that their Club has made representations to the Village Panchayat of Camorlim with regards to the slippery road and the damaged bus shelter with copies to the Loutolim MLA Alexio Sequeira, Police Inspector Maina Curtorim Police Station, Assistant Engineer Roads PWD, Fatorda, Assistant Director of Transport and Deputy Collector & SDM Suresh Pilarnekar. The Camorlim Village Panchayat members Lydia Coelho and Anthony Dias who participated in the action today assured to take up this matter at the forthcoming Panchayat meeting and Gram Sabha.

Speaking at the protest action Raia Civic and Consumer Forum secretary Raymond Rocha stated that the inaction of the PWD is highly deplorable especially when the accidents at Tembi involve tankers carrying hazardous substances and pose a danger to the lives of people. He further stated that the Forum will approach the District Administration to deal with the matter.

Roland Martins, speaking at the action, extended support of GOACAN to the villagers of Raia and Carmorlim in ensuring their right to Road Safety and Traffic Management. He further stated that GOACAN will draw the urgent attention of the PWD Secretary Santosh D. Vaidya, PWD Minister Sudin Dhavlikar and PWD Chief Engineer J S S Rego with regard to the death trap at Tembi.

Meanwhile the Raia Civic and Consumer Forum will discuss the future course of action on Road Safety and the role of the PWD at its monthly meeting to be held on Saturday, July 29 in 3pm at Our Lady of Snow's High School, Raia.