Srinagar, June 3: At a time when picturesque Kashmir is wooing more and more visitors, City’s tourist hub along the Boulevard, on Dal lake banks faces traffic jams, while absence of proper parking lots is being seen as a key reason to the problem.
 The traffic mess between Dalgate and Nishat furthers in the evenings when the tourists return to their hotels in vehicles, mostly big buses and absence of adequate parking lots furthers the trouble.
 The problem is no different at tourist spots like the Mughal Gardens and the Nehru Park, which are being thronged by thousands of tourists, everyday.

THE DALGATE TROUBLE
 The traffic jams at Dalgate, which houses most of the hotels and guesthouses, mostly erupt in the evenings when the vehicular movement to the area swells with the entry of vehicles ferrying back tourists to their lodgings after day’s trip. There’s also a rush of people living along the road who drive back to their homes.
 The vehicular movement on this narrow stretch upto Nehru Park, some two kilometers long¸ remains difficult.
 Experts said due to lack of adequate parking facilities at the hotels and the guesthouses in the area, most of the vehicles end up getting parked on the Boulevard, awaiting widening for the past around two decades.

THE WIDENING AWAITED
 Successive regimes have miserably failed to widen the road stretch between Dalgate and Nehru Park. Though recently the government had come up with a proposal to widen the stretch by eating away a portion of the famed Dal lake, the proposal was trashed following criticism from various quarters.
 The government however seemingly failed to look for alternatives to bear the traffic load on this vital road.

MESS OUTSIDE GARDENS
 The absence of proper parking lot outside gardens like Nehru Park and the Mughal Gardens at Nishat has furthered the mess.
 Those thronging the gardens are left with no options but to park their vehicles on the roadside leaving little space for traffic movement.
 Experts said there was a dire need of establishment of parking lots along the Boulevard at at-least four places  with an aggregate capacity of hosting 3000 odd vehicles.
 “There’s need of an urgent short term plan, which is possible through establishment of parking lots for around 3000 vehicles… Long term plan like construction of multistoried parking has been there for the past several years but the City cannot wait for the dreams to realize,” said a retired official, an expert on traffic management.

ADMIN IN SLUMBER
 The district administration seems to be in slumber. Despite the instructions of Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand who sometime back asked the administration to come up with parking facilities along the Boulevard, there  has been no step forward.
 
PUBLIC IRKED
 All this irks the tourists and the locals alike while the problem looks worst for people living ahead of Nishat in areas like Shalimar and Harwan.
 “We often get stuck in the jams for over an hour particularly while returning home in the evenings,” said a resident of Harwan.
 Prominent businessman Manzoor Ahmed Wangnoo, who also heads the Nigeen Lake Conservation Organization, said the traffic mess in Nishat area was brining disrepute for the Valley’s tourist industry.
 “Proper parking facility is the need of the our,” Wangnoo told Greater Kashmir. 

TRAFFIC POLICE SPEAKS
 Superintendent of Police Traffic Hasseb Ur Rehman while monitoring traffic regulation on this tourist road said there were no traffic jams but “slow down at peak hours.”
 He however said the men in blue were trying their best to keep the movement smooth.

CALL ME FOR RESPITE: DIG
 The Deputy Inspector General of Police (Traffic) Shafqat Watali reiterated that people, including tourists should feel free to call him on his mobile (9419102410) whenever they face any inconvenience with regard to traffic regulation.
 “Phoning to apprize us on this front will amount to public cooperation. People should feel free to call us and we assure immediate results,” Watali said.
 He said for a speedy respite people should make the best use of communication technology. “People can equally serve as our eyes by updating us about any inconvenience because police cannot be physically present everywhere, all the times,” the official explained.
 He agreed that the establishment of parking lots along the boulevard was the need of the hour.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 3 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 3 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 4 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST