Unnecessary diversions add to city traffic jams: Commuters, traders

For the frequent traffic jams in the Srinagar city, the commuters and the traders blame the “undue” and “unnecessary” traffic diversions enforced by the authorities.

“The lack of proper traffic management coupled with unnecessary traffic diversions lead to massive traffic jams,” a trader said, adding that these diversions also affect the footfall of customers in the major markets.

   

The Kashmir head of Retailers’ Association of India (RIA), Farhan Kitab told Greater Kashmir that major junctions in the city don’t have working traffic lights.

He said that barriers have been raised for diversions at many city roads, which leads to further traffic jams. “Due to these diversions the shoppers avoid visiting main city markets because they fear getting caught up in the traffic mess. These diversions and barriers instead of regulating the traffic are ending up creating traffic jams,” he said.

“We recently approached the authorities urging them to address the traffic issue, and we hope they will pay heed to our grievances,” Kitab said.

The commuters said that due to traffic jams they lose many hours in reaching work places and other destinations.

“Authorities are talking about smart city, but the fact remains that even the traffic lights are not working in this city. At Dalgate the traffic lights are defunct. The diversion of traffic at Dalgate-Badyari Chowk triggers traffic jam towards Khayam,” said Asif Wani, an employee.

While Talking to Greater Kashmir, SSP Traffic, Javaid Ahmed Koul said that efforts are on to streamline the traffic.

He said that by the end of the month, a controlled traffic light system will be in place. “At Dalgate, we have not put diversion, we have closed one point and vehicles have to take a u-turn ahead of Badyari Chowk to enter Boulevard. We are making affords to streamline traffic.”

“There will be a unified control unit at Traffic headquarters to manage the smart traffic light system by the end of the month. These efforts will help in traffic management,” Koul said.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

1 + 19 =