It is in response to the news feature recently published in your paper on 21th of December in which you had reported about the serious issue of traffic jam at Pantha Chowk,  By-Pass .
It is a decades old, and a very serious problem, faced by a common man who travels by surface transport on this very road link which happens to be the only life line connecting Jammu and Kashmir;  and  within the valley  connecting central and north Kashmir with south Kashmir. It is very sad and shocking that no government  has  taken the cognizance of this problem so that a solution could be found. The solution in fact is very simple, and not so costly. It lies in the removing some constructions which are mostly the structures  constructed as  encroachments  in violation of the rules and  form the  main bottleneck  at Pantha Chowk. These people can be rehabilitated easily but it needs a political will to provide relief to the lakhs of people who use this road twenty four hours.
It has been seen many times that  ambulances ferrying serious patients get stranded in this jam for hours and some of them have died on the way to hospital. In the summer time when we experience hot sunny days one can hear cries of young children who cry because of heat. It reflects helplessness and miserable situation. The traffic police also surrenders to the helpless situation which is more aggravated by  the horns and honks of mannerless driving  as we see everyone is in a hurry; and without realizing the road capacity tries to overtake the other. This makes the whole atmosphere wild. During the summer tourist season even tourists feel stressed and disappointed when they remain stranded for hours together. With the reason they lose time and people who depend on tourism industry in South Kashmir’s famous tourist places like Pahalgam, Verinaag, Ahabal, Kokernag, Aishmuqam etc. lose a lot economically as most of the tourists go and come back in a day without  doing some purchasing activity.
If sense is followed until the road gets cleared from the encroachments we can restrain ourselves from overtaking  in this strip which is less than half a kilometer. It requires little patience which has remained only a word in dictionary for us! At least  this is in our hands and yes, the traffic police has a role here. If they can act strictly to make the drivers on this route habitual to follow single line from DPS school up to the gas turbine, this can be a temporary solution until a  permanent  solution is found, which is possible only with the intervention of government. Minister of state for R&B  Javed Ahmad Dar being young and well groomed  politically can play a vital role in solving this serious problem and can win the hearts of lakhs of commuters who have been suffering  day and night while driving on this road. It needs an initiative, a political will, and a sincere execution by the relevant department.

Author is research officer SKICC
and can be mailed at shahnawaz_786@yahoo.com

Lastupdate on : Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST