Srinagar: Normal life was crippled in the summer capital by massive traffic jams especially in city centre areas.
Commuters had to face tough time due to traffic jams at Dalgate, Nowpora, Khanyar, Rainwari, Boulevard, Nishat and Foreshore Road.
Commuters blamed authorities for “unnecessary diversions” for traffic jams. They also said that the vendors occupying roads add to the mess.
Rambagh, Batamaloo, Sanat Nagar and other uptown areas also faced traffic jams despite Sunday.
Commuters blamed massive rush of visitors to Mughal gardens and Tulip Garden for traffic mess in city centre areas.
Cabs and other public transport vehicles used the Hazratbal route.
“This led to traffic jams along Hazratbal-Lal Chowk route. This has also created problems for hundreds of passengers of Laam, Braine, Nishat, and Ishber area because the cabs directly enter Shalimar from Hazratbal bypassing these areas. I had to pay Rs 200 to hire autorishaw to reach home as cab left me halfway. These traffic jams and diversions have made our lives miserable and most of our time gets wasted ,” said Jasim Ahmed from Braine Nishat.
The traders said that lack of proper traffic management coupled with traffic diversions has affected footfall of customers in major markets of the city centre and Downtown.
“It was mess on roads today. All roads in Downtown witnessed traffic jam. The problem was compounded by heavy rush of tourists to Badamwari. Authorities should press more men for traffic management so that people don’t suffer. This issue has also affected our customers and business,” said Ayaz Zehgeer, Chief organizer, Beopar Mandal Maharaj Gunj.
Passengers were seen walking on foot as cabs and buses were stuck in traffic jam for hours along Rainawari-Hazratbal route. “We were stuck in a minibus for two hours at Rainawari. We had to walk to our destination at Saida Kadal,” said a passenger at Rainawari.
SSP Traffic Srinagar (City), Muzaffar Ahmed Shah acknowledged that Srinagar city witnessed an unprecedented flow of vehicles on Sunday.
“It was like whole Kashmir has turned up in Srinagar today. There was huge flow of traffic towards tourist spots. We are continuously dealing with it. We will continue to formulate mechanism to streamline traffic so that commuters don’t suffer. Today was Sunday and people were rushing towards tourists places. Otherwise such huge traffic flow is not witnessed on normal days,” Shah said.