Chorla ghat has become a very challenging route to drive on. SUVs, cars and bikes manage to get by but it’s very difficult for sedans and smaller cars to dodge the potholes on the road.
PANAJI
There is a regular traffic between Goa and Karnataka however, all major routes are in bad shape and need urgent attention. In a recent development the major route connecting these two States, Chorla ghat has become a death trap. Since the ghat is divided between the two States, development of the roads too varies on both sides and is either good or bad on both the sides. Especially during the current monsoon, roads on both sides are in run-down state, complained regular travellers in a recent interaction with The Goan.
People travel via Chorla for varied reasons – education and business being the major purposes. Faisal Sheikh, a Goan businessman who takes this route often to Belagavi said, “The road condition is bad. Earlier I could cover the distance in 2.5 hours but now the same route takes me more than four hours,” said Faisal. “There is more traffic now as compared to earlier as vehicles can’t move smoothly due to the battered road condition,” he added further.
A sizable number of Goan youth flock to Karnataka for educational purposes. Many stay in hostels, however, some students travel to and fro on a daily basis.
“I have been travelling from Goa to Belgaum frequently for the past 4 years for college,” added Eng Khomesh Kamat. “However, I travelled again last week and it has been my worst driving experience so far. The potholes are beyond deadly,” he further added.
He further narrated that the portion of the Chorla Ghat road which falls under Goa's jurisdiction is decent, while the Karnataka side is dilapidated in terms of potholes.
“The Goa side however needs to fix up the barricades which are damaged due to accidents so as to prevent further mishaps. More radium markings are required for foggy days when the road is not clearly visible. Concave mirrors on major sharp turns will also be immensely helpful for drivers,” said Khomesh.
Monsoons for Goans also call for weekend getaways to the Chorla ghat. “People prefer to travel via Chorla ghat because it is scenic and is less prone to landslides, making it a very busy route,” said Adarsh Parsekar, a recent commuter of the route.
“However, Chorla ghat has become a very challenging route to drive on. SUVs, cars and bikes manage to get by but it’s very difficult for sedans and smaller cars to dodge the potholes on the road and pass through without damage. Some potholes are like literal craters which are fatal even for SUVs, buses and trucks,” he further added.
“Earlier there were few, shallow potholes, but now the number is multiplied tenfold and the potholes are deep. They get filled with rain water making it extremely difficult to navigate through them, especially at night. We easily spent 30 minutes and more dodging these lethal potholes,” lamented Nrutika Shah, a civil engineering student.
“This is the condition of the road despite it being fixed just a year ago, which makes one question the kind of the materials used to fix it, which seem to be of very substandard quality,” she added further.
