Srinagar, Jan 5: Finally, on Tuesday the Srinagar Municipal Corporation woke up to the menace of footpath vending, which are seen as major cause of traffic mess –starting a drive in the City centre stretch between Poloview and Amira Kadal. But barely an hour after the action against the roadside vendors, the stalls were back on the streets while cops on duty played mute.

THE DRIVE
 The SMC sleuths led by senior officials including the Commissioner, Tufail Ahmed Mattoo and the City Mayor, Salman Ali Sagar conducted a special drive to get rid of the roadside encroachments. They were escorted by a police team.
 During the operation, the SMC officials warned of strict action should the street vendors resume to their “illegal” trade. However, the civic body clarified that the drive wasn’t against the street vendors alone but also against the shopkeepers who showcase their products on the public land.
 Within half-and-hour, in the absence of the encroachments, there was respite from the traffic congestion as vehicles could be seen plying smoothly.

BACK TO SQUARE ONE
 But the moment, the SMC team left the City centre things started coming back to square one. In another half an hour, the roadside vendors resumed their work while the cops on duty in the area could be seen acting as mute spectators.
 As for the traffic, it too was back to mess for obvious reasons.

THE RISING
 For the past some months there has been  a debate that the traffic police alone isn’t responsible to ensure smooth flow of traffic but other agencies like the executive police, the SMC and the district administration too had a role to play.
 Amid a blame game between various agencies, the SMC finally took a lead by starting the drive.

THE REASONS
 Just last week when the Road Safety Week organized by the Traffic police started, senior officials including District Development Commissioner, Srinagar, Me’raj Ahmed Kakroo, the City Mayor, and others had to face severe embarrassment in their failure to decongest the City centre on various fronts, particularly roadside encroachments.
 The traffic police officials said the cops on duty on roads had to ensure that nobody encroached on the streets.
 Finally, the officials resolved to seriously take up the issue of traffic mess. The Mayor had said the SMC would soon start a drive while others particularly DDC had assured of all possible help and co-ordination.

THE SLUMBER
 This is not for the first time, eyebrows are being raised over the police efforts in this matter.
 In May last year, the traffic chaos in the City centre stretch between Batmaloo and Dalgate took such a serious turn that the Opposition accused the government of taking people hostage in traffic jams.
 Finally, following the intervention of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, the DGP Kuldeep Khoda directed the police to ensure smooth flow of traffic. Results were obvious.
 On May 8, no footpath vendor was allowed to sit in the area and traffic flow remained smooth. But barely a day after that the mess was back to square one as it happened today.

COP VIEWS
 The police, however said, their job was only to provide security to the SMC sleuths during such drives.
 “Same we did today. But later if the peddlers returned to the streets, it’s not our job to take them away,” said a senior police official.
 He said whenever the civic body goes for the drive they would be provided police protection.

‘STRICT ACTION FROM TODAY’
The City Mayor, Salman Ali Sagar said the SMC would intensify its drive from Wednesday.
 “We will seize the commodities,” he told reporters. 
 To a question if it was a “symbolic drive for face saving”, he said: “It’s the issue concerning inconvenience everyday faced by common man. We’ll continue with it by all means.”
 A senior SMC official said the DDC and police was being taken into confidence for the drive.
 Observers said the drive could remain successful only if other agencies particularly police co-operates.
 But observers fear the drive would succumb to “political pressures” soon.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 5 Jan 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 5 Jan 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 6 Jan 2010 00:00:00 IST