When Panjim and Goa faced a lockdown in 1980s

When Panjim and Goa faced a lockdown in 1980s

It was a tradition among all of us reporters attached to the Press Room at Goa Secretariat in Panjim to assemble at around 9.30 am daily. Goa Secretariat was then located at the historic 16th century Adilshah Palace, the oldest structure in Panjim built on the banks of the Mandovi River. The press conferences or briefs by ministers or the senior officials at the Secretariat or press conferences at city hotels would commence at around 10 am and conclude by 12-30 pm, unless they were followed by lunch. Then we would break for lunch at home, followed by a mandatory brief siesta ( Siesta or दुपारची वामकुक्षी is not the sole monopoly of the पुणेकर alone !) and assemble back at the Secretariat press room at 4 pm. Keeping in with this schedule, that day I had boarded the Panjim bound bus near my residence in Taleigaon. As I was boarding the private city bus, the bus conductor threw the bombshell . ''सोगळे ध्यान द्या हांव कित्ये सांगता त्ये. पोणजिचो मांडवीचो पूल मोडलोय. म्हापश्याचे अन नॉर्थ गोयांक आता सोगळी बस बंद असात. '

The shocking announcement in Konkani language said All of you please pay attention to what I am saying.,,,,The bridge over Mandovi river in Panjim has collapsed....All Mapusa and north Goa bound buses are therefore not plying... It took some time for me to sink in what the conductor was telling.. It was just unbelievable...And when the announcement was clear, My heart just sank. I was the crime and court reporter of The Navhind Times, the only English newspaper of the tiny Union Territory. I would certainly face the flank or even lose my job for not reporting this catastrophe last night..

The conductor's announcement was followed by a flurry of questions by bus commuters.. Apparently the bus conductor had been making this announcement at each bus stops and was graduated enough to handle the questions. To my great relief, the only bridge over Mandovi bridge had collapsed only a little ago, around half an hour earlier. This meant I had not erred in my professional duties the previous night.

The commuters who were scheduled to travel to Porvorim, Mapusa or other areas in north Goa immediately disembarked from the bus after learning that the only link connecting Panjim to north Goa was now no longer there. It was clearly visible that the people were yet to recover from the shock of the Mandovi bridge collapse. As the bus was now nearly half empty, I settled into a window seat, thinking of the collapse of the bridge and the news of the tragedy now I would have to file for the newspaper. The gravity of the tragedy was however yet to unfold before me. The bus reached the Prasa or the Panjim main bus stand and I followed the anxious crowds to the banks of the Mandovi. The stark reality was there before all of us to see. Two pillars of the bridge had caved in and all vehicular and other movement between Panjim and Porvorim Mapusa had come to a standstill. A little distance away, a group of people was surveying the scene and some persons were noting down something. Immediately, I rushed to join the group which included Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane, Public Works Minister Dr. Wilfred De Souza, the Union Territory’s Chief Secretary and other senior government officers. Those taking down the notes were obviously members of my journalists tribe.

Chief Minister Rane and his colleagues were able to reach the spot immediately as their official residences are located at Altinho ( hill in Poruguese) in Panjim. The chief minister’s bungalow was then located in Altinho just opposite the Bishop’s Palace, the residence of the Goa, Daman and Diu Archbishop and Patriarch of the East Indies. Thus the two major power centres in Goa’s socio-political spheres just face each other, often also witnessing face offs. Presently the Goa Secretariat has been shifted to a spacious premises across Mandovi in Porvorim.

My our senior reporters, Pramod Khandeparkar and Ravi Prabhugaonkar, in The Navhind Times and other journalists residing in Patrakar Colony across the river in Porvorim were already there, despite the bridge collapse. It was obvious after learning the news of the bridge collapse, all of them had rushed in their two wheelers to the nearby Betim jetty and from there crossed the river in ferryboats just in time to be there . Little did I realise then that this was the inkling of the only mode of travel for us people in Goa for the next couple of years until a new bridge was constructed ! As soon as I saw that the two senior reporters from my newspaper were already taking down the notes, I knew that the news of the bridge collapse had slipped away from my hands.

This day was 5 July 1983. The bridge which was the only link connecting Panjim to Mapusa and other parts of north Goa was constructed after the Indian defence forces liberated Goa, Daman and Diu from 450 years old Portuguese regime in December 1961. The bridge was named after India’s first prime minister Pandit Nehru who had ordered the military action to liberate Goa. The bridge was collapsed within 17 years after its construction. Incidentally the Pato bridge which was then the only another link connecting Panjim to the collapsed bridge and also Ribandar and Old Goa was constructed by the Portuguese rulers 450 years earlier but was intact and strong to that date. The Pato bridge is used even today, albeit only by a few vehicles moving in the direction of the Pato Colony, Mala, Santa Cruz and Merces.

The Nehru bridge had collapsed on Saturday and therefore that day there were no school bus ferrying students from Porvorim and other areas to Panjim. It was revealed that an identified person who had taken shelter under a pier of the bridge was the lone human casualty in the bridge collapse. It was sheer miracle that there not many human casualties and that no vehicles were damaged in the bridge collapse. It took some time for the Goa administration and also the people to realise the magnitude of the bridge collapse tragedy. It meant total lockdown of Panjim and nearby areas from Mapusa and other parts of north Goa. This meant total collapse of road transport between Panjim and other parts of north Goa which would have an immense impact on the tourism industry which was the backbone of Goa’s economy. The bridge tragedy had paralysed Goa’s normal life and business and other transactions. That day, Goa government ordered immediate shifting of its river navigation department’s majority of ferryboats to ferry people across the Mandovi river from Betim jetty to Panjim jetty. Goa administration also sought a large number of ferryboats from the Union government to meet the emergency of river travel requirement. Goa, Daman and Diu then being a Union Territory; this demand was immediately conceded.

This travel in ferryboats was, of course, to be fully free of cost to all, including for vehicles carried in these ferryboats. Charging fees to people would have invited furry and wrath of the people in the territory. Thus from dawn to late night, government sponsored ferryboats continued to transport commuters and also their twowheelers, fourwheelers including jeeps, trucks from Panim to Betim and back. Those people who have travelled in ferryboats to islands in Goa including Diwar, Chorao or St. Estevam would know this mode of transport. Soon all of us got used to this time consuming routine and there was absolutely no grumbling on the part of the public.

And so, just imagine six ferryboats constantly being in the river to ferry commuters across Mandovi river on the Panjim Betim route from early morning to late nights, at any given time time two at the Panjim jetty, two at Betim Jetty and two in the Mandovi river, navigating and maneuvering their way while keeping a safe distance from the approaching ferryboat. In this river crossing, you would meet in the ferryboat, the who’s who in Goa and also many VVIIPs including the chief minister, ministers and various national, international celebrities on visit to the favourite tourist destination. The people in most parts of Goa were of course used to this kind of break journey while travelling to various destinations. For example, at that time, there was no bridge over Zuari river which divides north and south Goa. We people travelling from Panjim to Margao or Vasco da Gama had to first go to Agassaim village, cross over Zuari river by ferryboats - , and pay for it - and then board another bus for Margao or Vasco da Gama and vice versa. The newly constructed bridge over Zuari river was inaugurated sans any formal function just a few weeks before the Commonwealth retreat in Goa in 1983. That is precisely and also fortunately the only reason the Zuari bridge is named after the river and not after anyone.

There was another bridge which symbolised the patience of the Susegad Goans. The bridge in Borim village located on the Panjim Margao route via Ponda was declared weak since Goa’s liberation in 1961. We people travelling on this route therefore had to alight from buses and other vehicles at Borim bridge and cover the distance upto the other end of the bridge on foot and get into our buses and other vehicles awaiting there ! This had continued till late 1980s until a new bridge over the bridge was constructed. The Army which has many establishments in Goa soon came to the rescue of the people badly affected by the lockdown caused by the Mandovi bridge collapse. The Army personnel constructed a bailey bridge over the creek near Panjim bus stand and the Pato Colony. It facilitated smooth movement of people. The bailey bridge was constructed within 24 hours and in fact served as an exercise in disaster management for the Army personnel. The bailey bridges are constructed by the Army personnel during the wartime in the event of destruction of a bridge by the enemy or similar calamity. The Goa administration which was too pleased with the bailey bridge facility requested the Army authorities that the temporary bridge be retained until the construction of an alternate bridge over Mandovi river. The request was of course not conceded. Thus one day we people in Panjim witnessed disappearance of the bailey bridge just as speedily as its appearance a few months earlier.

The Goa government soon launched measures for construction of a new bridge over Mandovi. In the meantime, an inquiry commission headed by retired high court Devidatt Mangesh Rege was constituted to probe the causes and factors leading to the collapse of the Nehru bridge. The day- today hearing of the commission was held in a government building in Sant Inez. A large number of senior retired officials of the Union public works department and state department departments were summoned to depose before the commission. As a reporter of The Navhind Times, I often attended the hearings. The report of the Rege Commission was later placed before the Goa Assembly and the matter was closed and forgotten for good with no action against the guilty. Today Mandovi river in Panjim has more than one bridge connecting the state capital city to Mapusa and rest parts of Goa. I hope to visit Goa soon after the present COVID 19 lockdown in the country is fully lifted. The third huge bridge over Mandovi river named Atal Setu, which was under construction when I visited Goa last time is now open for traffic.

People crossing the Atal Setu will certainly get a beautiful panoramic view of Panjim, Miramar, Dona Paula, Betim, Ribandar and the Arabian Sea. Nonetheless, I must add one thing - Whenever I travel on any of the Mandovi bridges, Invariably I alternately look at the Betim and Paniim jetties. I cannot help but recall the daily travel of thousands of people along with their vehicles in ferryboats in 1980s during the long lockdown caused by the collapse of the lone bridge over the river.