A huge crowd of revelers gathered at Goa’s new Zuari Bridge, which will be officially opened by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on December 29, while the old bridge that runs next to it was heavily traffic jammed. Traffic came to a complete standstill on the old bridge for over three hours on Monday evening, stranding dozens of vehicles, many carrying passengers to the Dabolim airport.
In contrast, hundreds of people thronged the new Zuari bridge at the same time to click selfies and have a firsthand experience of the cable-stayed structure. Local artistes were also seen singing along with their bands on this.
Goa NRI commissioner Narendra Sawaikar was among the visitors to the new bridge. Sawaikar tweeted, “Visited the wonderful, panoramic New Zuari Bridge for its inauguration on 29th December. Conceived and gifted by Late Manoharbhai Parrikar under the leadership of Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji and Union Minister Shri @nitin_gadkari ji.”
Zuari Bridge is an important link between North and South Goa. Lakhs of people have arrived in the coastal state to celebrate the New Year, which has increased the number of vehicles on the roads and worsened the situation, a senior police officer said.
“The traffic jam started in the afternoon and continued till late evening. Some cars stuck in the jam at 7 pm crawled till 11 pm. Thousands of vehicles were seen on the old Zuari bridge and the roads leading to it,” he said. Said.
Reacting to the traffic jam, Aam Aadmi Party’s Goa MLA Venji Vigas tweeted, In 1983, commuters suffered while @INCGoa govt waited for PM Indira Gandhi’s time to inaugurate the first Zuari bridge. History repeats itself with @BJP4Goa and the new Zuari bridge. Is there anyone in Goa who has guts like @TheKiranBedi who threw the bridge open.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had announced that the new bridge would be inaugurated by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on 29 December. He had said that people can walk on the new structure and admire it before its inauguration.
Goa Forward Party general secretary Durgadas Kamat said in a tweet on Tuesday that even a tea stall using the electricity connection has been set up on the new bridge. He questioned the decision of the company that built the bridge to allow the tea shop to operate before its inauguration.
with PTI inputs