Commuters were surprised when a group of students manned traffic at a busiest route of City –Jehangir Chowk on Saturday morning.
 The students from a private school were part of the programme organised by the BIG 92.7 FM to raise traffic awareness among the people and mark the Children’s Day.
 Popular FM voice, RJ Haya (Wafa Vakil), who hosts a variety of programs including her BIG NUN CHAI, kickstarted the drive while RJ Nasir helped the students regulate the traffic.
 Zaid Khalid, a student of 9th standard, like a professional traffic cop, didn’t desist even from stopping vehicles of troopers while manning the traffic at the crucial junction which connects two vital parts of the City.
 “It is a new experience for me,” he said while reprimanding a scooterist for not wearing helmet.
 Zahid said due to frequent traffic jams, he and his classmates reach school late.
 “I believe traffic jams occur due to lack of awareness among the people. Everybody wants to reach their destinations fast and in the process throw traffic rules to winds. We want to make people aware that when we students can man traffic, why can’t they obey traffic rules,” he said.
 Zahid was seconded by another student, Burhan. He blamed the Tata bus and Sumo drivers for the traffic mess.
 “There is dire need to generate awareness about traffic rules among the people, particularly drivers,” he said as a traffic cop, Syed Firdous guided him to man the traffic. 
 Firdous who has been posted at the Chowk for past several months, said it was a challenging task at this beat.
 He said on an average over 80,000 vehicles daily pass through Jehangir Chowk.
 “Motorists including most of the professionals like doctors, journalists, don’t have traffic sense. Despite challans and legal action against the traffic offenders, there is no improvement in their attitude towards traffic management,” the cop fumed.
 “If the motorists maintain a single lane, traffic will ply smoothly. Let’s hope that these students will serve as an eye-opener for them,” he said.
 Pertinently, despite construction of a flyover, Jehangir Chowk witnesses traffic jam for hours causing immense inconvenience to the pedestrians. The busy road leads to Civil Secretariat, Police Control Room, Fire Services headquarters, High Court and other important government offices.  
 People welcomed the endeavour of Big 92.7 FM and the students for raising traffic awareness. Ghulam Rasool a retired government employee however, blamed the traffic cops for the mess.
 “The traffic cops allow the mini-buses and Sumos to park their vehicles on the busy roads. The troopers and VIPS violate the traffic rules by plying their vehicle a high speed and even don’t adhere to traffic signals. Are rules only for common people?” he asked.
 Cluster Head of 92.7 FM for J and K, Siddhartha Arora, said the station wanted to give the children a kind of authority on the occasion of Children’s Day.
 “These programs will inculcate confidence and a sense of responsibility to the children. We have always tried to make lives better and children are special to us,” he said while thanking the traffic department for helping to make the program a success.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 IST