https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIGO%2F2018%2F12%2F25&entity=Ar00607&sk=019DCCDD&mode=text
It has been awful all year, with choke-points on the bridge crossings across the Zuari and Mandovi rivers, but now traffic has snarled beyond precedent all across the state. Part of the problem is ill-conceived and poorly managed roadworks, everywhere making the already bad situation worse. Another aspect is extraordinarily bad driving in the absence of enforcement of discipline. But mainly the problem is just too many vehicles cramming into India’s smallest state, as thousands more pour over the borders every day to catch peak season at year’s end. Now it has become gridlock time all day everyday in Goa, with dangerous consequences for every person in the state. It is true few places in the world have suitably tackled this problem, especially in Goa’s neighborhood. Other prospering parts of India are worse – just see Bangalore. One of the reasons ride-sharing companies are flourishing widely across the entire continent, is that Asian cities have been largely paralyzed by traffic problems, that exert huge costs on the economy and on individual health and productivity. Last year, a study of 9000 people in nine of Asia’s biggest cities found the average commuter spends almost an hour stuck standstill in traffic jams daily, which adds up to nearly an entire fortnight each year. That doesn’t include another several cumulative days looking for parking! But what makes the situation infinitely more upsetting in Goa is the wilful neglect of consecutive state administrations to understand, analyze or mitigate the growing problem. This is just one more symptom of the comprehensive collapse of governance in the state in recent years, even given every advantage of foresight. For several decades, the great architect and urban planner Charles Correa warned the current chaotic traffic scenario would become inevitable if better decisions were not made at the right time to make a difference. As he pointed out as far back as 1972, density and decentralized development are key to the character and ambiance of the state. Mess with those crucial attributes, and it’s all downhill from there. Sundry bureaucrats feted Correa, but none of them bothered to listen to his ideas or implement his most crucial plans. Thus, the state has been steadily overwhelmed by urban sprawl, now extending inexorably into the green lungs of the villages themselves. In such a tiny land mass, already so wonderfully linked by existing age-old networks of roads and waterways, sufficient public transport could have solved so many prevailing problems. But that has never been any kind of priority, so individual ownership has exploded exponentially. As of 2015, Goa already had by far the highest vehicle density in the country at 551 per 1000 people (the nationwide ration was 13 per 1000). Today the situation is significantly worse. Also particularly damaging at this time of the year is unregulated free-flow of vehicles across the border, the devastating tsunami of giant tour buses and tourist-crammed taxis from neighboring states and far beyond. This is beyond crisis to existential threat, as essential arteries come to standstill, preventing even ambulances getting through. The latest phenomenon is residents of the worst-affected areas actually leaving to stay with relatives elsewhere, because their movements are so curtailed for this week of high season. None of this is unavoidable. Many places in the world deal with even more vehicles in smaller areas without becoming overwhelmed. But the only possible solutions that need to be implemented require precisely what Goa sorely lacks at this juncture: wise leadership emboldened to act decisively. Instead, the parking predicament, and the emergency on the roads are an uncannily accurate reflection of what is happening at the top of the state’s power structures. Everything is jammed. Nothing is moving. It looks like nobody is in charge. Everybody is suffering, but no one cares.