PANAJI: As hundreds of students up to Class XII returned to the Integrated School Complex at Cujira on Monday, traffic chaos returned to haunt children and parents.
Schools said that traffic personnel blocked one of the two lanes inside the complex, reserving the blocked lane for children to walk. With a single lane being used for two-way traffic, vehicle movement slowed leading to the massive traffic jam, institutes in the complex said.
With the fifth institute, Anjuman Nurul Islam commencing operations from its premises at Cujira it meant an increased number of students at the complex.
Schools said they could not understand why, despite increased student numbers, traffic personnel took the decision to block one lane.
In the initial days of students returning to physical classes, they are being called in batches and the numbers are still controlled. Schools fear that when bigger numbers are called in at a time the traffic situation could worsen if the ongoing arrangement continues.
“Earlier, we would see traffic issues each year during school reopening as the exit to the school complex was not ready. Now that the complex has different entry and exit points, it is not known why, without consulting or informing schools, one lane was blocked, and the other was turned into a two-way lane,” one school management official said.
School officials said that parking is available at the stadium within the school complex. “All vehicles could have been asked to park there and students could have walked to their respective schools, which would be a more reasonable way,” one school management representative said.
Ironically, five high enrolment schools located in the heart of Panaji city had been shifted to Cujira to ease the capital of traffic jams during school timings. Though the city has been freed partly of the traffic issues after the schools moved to Cujira, the shift has not helped schools, parents and students who continue to navigate through piled up vehicles at Cujira.
South Goa also faced its fair share of traffic jams outside schools.
