PANAJI: The increasing number of vehicles entering the capital city everyday is creating problems for the traffic police who find it difficult to man the traffic at strategic points.

Over 55,000 vehicles enter and exit the city everyday, said the traffic police inspector, Mr Roy Pereira. Speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’ he further said that according to a survey conducted recently, 47,000 vehicles enter Panaji from the new Patto bridge while the rest of the vehicles, which account for about 8,000-10,000, enter the city through Bhatulem, St Cruz and Dona Paula.

Mr Pereira stated that the Panaji traffic cell has limited staff to run the show which makes the task all the more difficult to manage the traffic at various junctions in the city. He further said that due to this, no cops want to join the traffic cell as they have to face pollution, excessive heat during summer and rains during the monsoon. The traffic police inspector said that usually trained hands are put on the job but sometimes inexperienced traffic cops are also tried out, especially during peak hours.

The present strength of traffic police in the city is one police sub inspector, 8 assistant sub inspectors, 12 head constables and 26 police constables whereas the sanctioned strength is much more and many have been deployed on other jobs.

Mr Pereira informed that due to congestion near schools like at Miramar and Rua de Ourem, the school authorities were requested to keep a gap of 15 minutes between the primary and secondary section timings. Inspite of this, these areas witness congestion when schools start and close everyday, he said. He further said that a crane is kept ready at important places in the city for any emergency besides employing 2-3 cops in congested areas.

Another problem haunting the capital city is a lack of proper parking space, with the existing parking lots in the city not being sufficient to meet the needs of the growing number of vehicles.

Moreover, the problem gets worsened as many people park their vehicles right in front of their commercial establishments.