The day when there is chaos and confusion on roads is a normal day in Kashmir. When people are seen struggling to reach their destinations, when ambulances carrying emergency cases are unable to move at the desired pace, when fire engines of Fire and Emergency Services Department are caught in messy traffic situations with desperation writ on everybody’s face who so ever is on the roads, that moment we think that normalcy has been restored. And irony is that semblance of order on roads is visible whenever there is a strike call. While average citizen calls it traffic jams the traffic police tries to downplay the otherwise a very acute problem by putting it in milder form “slow moving traffic”. Even if the police may be right in describing it so but the problem is getting compounded with every passing day as plans to tackle it continue to remain on books only. During the past twenty years we have seen Indian cities and metros getting metamorphosed with hardly any bottlenecks on roads and highways. The capital Delhi has got the best possible rapid transport system in the shape of the Metro rail and the hundreds of flyovers and other projects have completely transformed the old as well as New Delhi. Similar is the situation in cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Chandigarh and for that matter almost all cities have witnessed a sea change as far as improvement in road and railway network is concerned. For that matter Jammu city too has witnessed remarkable improvement in its road network.  The host of flyovers and bridges laid during recent past and widening of roads has substantially eased the situation in the city that once upon a time had the distinction of having highest density of vehicles per square kilometer. But Kashmir valley in general and the capital Srinagar in particular has remained uninfluenced by the development. The situation has rather worsened and is deteriorating with every passing day. The plans and projects announced by the government with much fanfare have remained a dream so far. Well we have roads marked with signs and symbols of the projects conceived. Our only so-called flyover was created only to facilitate the passage of the rulers from their official residences to the secretariat. The other flyover near Hyderpora taken up more than three years ago is no were near completion.  The Soura-Nagabal Road and Ali Jan Road although taken up more than three decades ago for execution are yet to get completed. The work on Dalgate- Nowhatta road widening project has been going on at a snail’s pace. The work on Srinagar-Ganderbal Road via Hazratbal has witnessed hardly any progress regardless of its importance of being a main artery to the pilgrim destinations. Only a few car parking spaces provided are not habitually used by the people for whom these were actually to serve. The example is provided by the old KMDA bus station that has been converted in to a car parking slot. The shopkeepers of Red Cross Road continue to park their vehicles in front of their shops and establishment leaving very little space for traffic movement. There are similar instances that can be quoted.  Even our called national highway which has been brought under the Prime Minister’s North-South Corridor project has hardly seen any improvement ever since it was launched. Of course some sections of it falling in Jammu division might have witnessed some progress but it has remained unchanged in Kashmir division. The road stretch from Udhampur to Qazigund continues to defy the definition of a road if viewed in the context of modern day concept of road. The stretch of the road is improved version of the bridal path which was first used by pony Wallas subsequently converted in to a cart road on which carts pulled by horses moved. And the ‘road’ determined by the horse sense continues to be utilized till date as our main artery of traffic connecting the valley with the rest of the world. The 320 Kms long road could have been reduced to 250 Kms or so with tunnels across the Shivalik and Pir Panchal ranges. But there is no political will to realize the dream. To cap it all the highly understaffed traffic police is not doing its duty scientifically and professionally. Then you have defiant drivers who only add to the chaos and confusion with their scant regard for the rules and regulations. This problem must be tackled on emergency basis. Sooner, the better.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 28 Nov 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 29 Nov 2010 00:00:00 IST