Various city roads Tuesday witnessed traffic jams due to slippery conditions caused by the incessant snowfall.
At some places, vehicles skidded off the roads and were manually put back on the track by the commuters and the passers-by. Cops were also seen helping these vehicles.
Various roads including at Jahangir Chowk, Jawahar Nagar, Rajbagh, TRC, Dalgate, Regal Chowk, Rambagh, Batamaloo and others witnessed traffic jams throughout the day.
With traffic jams, the snow clearance machines also could not work freely. The district administration issued an advisory asking the citizens to avoid using their own cars to help minimize the traffic jams, and let snow clearing operations go on without hindrance.
“We have closed some of the U-turns and crossing points where allowing traffic would worsen the traffic jams. Yes, there are long queues of vehicles, but the good thing is that the traffic is now moving” a cop at Jahangir Chowk, here said.
He said that the “challenge amid slippery road condition is not only to ensure that wheels move on, but also to make sure the safety of commuters and pedestrians.”
Commuters also showed cooperation and didn’t object to closure points. “The roads are slippery and we have to avoid road accidents. The best thing we can do to avoid any untoward incident is to drive at speed of 15 to 20 kilometers per hour,” said Tariq Ahmad, a local.
Meanwhile, many people complained that the authorities did not clear snow from the lanes and bylanes, which hit the pedestrian movement.
At some places, the main roads were water logged. Inhabitants of Allochibagh here said that authorities left the lanes and bylanes in the locality unattended.
“We are forced to stay indoors. No men and machinery has been pressed into service to clear snow from lanes and bylanes,” Niyaz Ahmad, a local of Allochibagh said.
Locals of Magarbal Bagh also complained that snow was not cleared from interior roads. “Lanes and bylanes aside, even the inner roads in our locality have not been cleared. It is for the first time in past several years that authorities have failed to clear snow from these inner roads,” said a group of locals at Magarmal Bagh.