The Goa government has deployed two platoons of the state police's India Reserve Battalion to decongest a section of the national highway connecting the North and South districts of the state, a senior official said today.
Heavy traffic jams have been witnessed for the past few days at Agassaim village on the national highway near Zuari bridge, about 15 kilometres from here, the official said.
The issue had drawn protests from political parties as well as people who had missed their flights as the highway is the sole access road for people of North Goa to the international airport.
"Two platoons of IRB have been deployed. Police have issued detailed instructions to field formations for continuous monitoring of traffic situation," a senior Chief Minister's Office official told PTI today.
He claimed that since the deployment of the two IRB platoons at the site, traffic had been moving smoothly on the highway.
The official said that, as instructed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who is currently in the United States for a medical check-up, senior state officials had visited the site of the traffic bottleneck.
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"As per the instructions of the chief minister, Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma, Director General of Police Muktesh Chandar, Principal Secretary to CM P Krishnamurthy, accompanied by traffic police and PWD officials, visited both sides of the bridge," the official said.
The official informed that the state PWD department had been directed to construct a slipway from Cortalim junction at the south of the Zuari bridge to ease the flow of traffic moving towards Margao.
"Traffic police has been directed to deploy additional manpower to ensure lane driving and regulate smooth movement of traffic," the official added.