Cuncolim to Canacona: A Horseway or Highway?
Eddie Viegas
This refers to your news item “Centre approves 7000 Cr. road projects for State” (Herald, 4 January). While the Government both at the centre and in the State of Goa deserves our thanks for these projects I’d like to take this opportunity to bring to the notice of the concerned authorities the difficulties faced while traversing the section of the highway between Margao and Canacona.
Indeed the well-being of a State is often seen on the well maintained roads of the state. But if anyone is to go by the road conditions of the track from Margao or more particularly from Cuncolim to Canacona one gets the impression that the area is not a part of Goa at all. The last time this road surface was well done was during the time Digambar Kamat was the CM and Churchill was the PWD Minister. That was about 10 years ago. Thanks to them. Although the road was narrow the surface was good and one could traverse the distance of 35Km from Canacona to Margao in about 45 minutes. Ever since the new dispensation came into power the road has been neglected completely and today there are times when it takes as much as an hour and a half to go from Canacona to Margao which is a dismal speed of about 24 Km per hr especially in view of the slow movement of the heavy trucks and the poor surface condition encountered by those using this road. And in case there is any mishap on the road then one could be held up for hours. One shudders to think what could happen in case of a medical emergency for any person wanting to come to Margao or GMC from the South. Surprisingly though mention of various sections of the highways in various parts of Goa have been mentioned in the news item of January 4, 2022, no mention is made of the highway from Margao to Canacona. It is time the Government takes up the improvement of this stretch on an urgent basis as this is a big bottleneck for vehicular movement from the North to South and vice-versa.
At this point it would be pertinent to note that the new stretches of the by-passes that have been made whether at Verna-Margao or Char-Marg to Maxem, are of a very low standard. In many parts, the roads have developed heavy “sags” apparently due to poor or no proper base and one can feel the roller-coaster ride feeling even at speeds of 60-70 Km/hr. On the other hand when you drive on the road from Airport to Verna which was built by the Border Roads Organisation, one can drive comfortably at higher speeds. Even the National highways in Maharashtra or Karnataka are of a better quality and one can drive at speeds of over 100Km/hr on these highways. It would do well for the authorities to look into the cause of such poor quality of road-works in Goa. I appeal to the CM and the MLAs of South Goa to take up the rebuilding of the highway from Margao to Canacona on an urgent basis.
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