Team Goemkarponn
CANACONA: Upcoming New Year-2025 may be 5 days away, but that doesn’t deter tourists particularly domestic tourists coming from different States to Goa jamming the narrow roads not only at the two prime beaches of Canacona, but dofferent and romantic beach coves at Khola at the north of the taluka and upto Polem to the extreme southern end of Goa State at Polem is no different.
There are still 5 days left for New Year 2025, but the crowds have begans to pour in domestic tourists outnumbering foreign tourists by large numbers struggle to get access to the beach-sands.
Even though most foreign national comes with prior bookings, many of the domestic visitors either coming with their own vehicles or hiring rent-a-cars makes it extremely difficult resulting in several jams and parking becoming a major hurdle.
‘Palolem looses several tourist because non-availability of any reasonable parking space. The only parking-lot right at Palolem Main beach entrance can only accommodate a handful of vehicles, and most vehicles had go through several hardships on the narrow road beginning at Palolem-Agonda junction, resulting in minute to minutes traffic jams.’, states a tourists entrepreneur and social worker Sucouro Da Silva.
‘There is this parking lot owned by the Canacona Municipality near the Palolem main beach entrance but reaching there becomes a greatest challenge, and as the space so small, there is hardly anything left to park the tourists’ cars. Many tourists than move out, while those who come with prior bookings had no option than to station their vehicles at Bollo, where private parking is arranged for the visitors coming with their own vehicles. Palolem is loosing many tourists mainly because of non-availability of parking near beach, and the narrow beach road, which mostly remains with traffic jams. This is a long pending issue with the government, and instead of regularly following up with the authorities, nothing comes worth a merit to mentions;, informed Ex- CMC Chairperson and present Ourem-Palolem councillor Simon Rebello.
According sources, this is not a one week situation, but if not daily Palolem is going through this every weekened, thought there are virtually more than five private pay-parking sites, which are mostly over 2Kms away from the main Palolem beach.
Tourists turn away frm Palolem, besides, many out of State vehicles searching for their next destinations, converge at Agonda, almost creating the same situation of traffic jams on the either sides of the 1.9 Km Agonda beach. Heading to the north-side of Agonda is a immediate nightmare, these weeks and particularly beginning two before Christmas,, it is also a rush of vehicles on the southern side as well by vehicles trying to gain the nearest entry to the beach-coast.
‘it is not that tourists have increase manifold, but the main reason of traffic snarls is due to visitors coming with their own vehicles is more, the Rent-A-Car vehciles makes it worst’, stated a tourist taxi driver at Agonda. Likelwise to Palolem, Agonda doesn’t have its own panchayat owned parking lot, but private players have a handful of pay parkings slots on either sides of the beach, besides the beach resorts offering their space for their clients only.
Khola beach which have a handful of beach coves and the Cabo-da-Rama Fort and the cliff hanging Rajbhag beach witnesses similar situation of heavy traffic of outstation vehicles, outnumbering the Tourist Taxis. Khola panchayat also doesn own its own land to utilize a parking spot on on any Khola beachcoves except for the little space at Cabo-de-Rama fort.
Not mentioning the mere parking space to reach access the Galgibaga beach through a narrow lane, so also at Talpona in Poinguinim village, Loliem-Polem panchayats only beach at Polem is the only beach that provides some parking spaces but thattoo within the fisputes of the landlords of the beachside property.
According to locals, with most of hotels and resorts fully booked for witnessing the arrival of New Year -2025, people expect more than the double traffic menace which is witnessed nowadays until traffic police cell comes with some solution and divert its attention to the explore new avenues for new parking spaces and find some ways to avoid traffic congestions on the already narrow and insufficient beach roads of Palolem and Agonda beach, instead of deputing traffic police to penalise violators of motor vehicles acts (imposing fines for non – wearing of helmets, etc’ by placing them at every 2-3 kilometres of distances, especially when the traffic is expected to increase by more than double of the present situation between 30th – 2nd of January 2025.
