Goa Govt Must Allow Emergency Service Vehicles To Use New Zuari Bridge Before The Inauguration On Dec 29: TMC

The Goa unit of the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) on Tuesday demanded that at least emergency service vehicles be allowed to use the new Zuari bridge before its inauguration on December 29.
        
Earlier on Monday, a large number of revellers gathered on the new bridge that Union minister Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate on December 29, while the old bridge that runs parallel to it witnessed a huge traffic jam.
        
Scores of vehicles were caught in the massive congestion on Monday evening on the old bridge, where the traffic came to a standstill for more than three hours.
        
The TMC's Goa general secretary Rakhi Prabhudesai Naik in a statement said that at least emergency service vehicles such as ambulances should be allowed to ply on the new bridge, which is awaiting its formal inauguration.
        
Naik claimed that the massive traffic jam witnessed on the bridge on Monday continued for almost five hours, during which several ambulances were stranded. 
        
“There is no count of how many people could have died due to the delay in reaching the Goa Medical College from the hospitals like South Goa District Hospital or other peripheral health facilities in South Goa,” the TMC leader said.
        
She further said it was dreadful that while the new Zuari bridge is ready, people were dying only because the state government wants it to be inaugurated by Gadkari.
        
“Knowing Gadkari, I don't think even he would like people to die this way,” Naik said in the statement.
        
Pending the inauguration, the new bridge should be opened for emergency services such as ambulances, fire and emergency services, and the police department, Naik said, adding that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant or Public Works Department Minister Nilesh Cabral should give instructions in this regard.