Massive traffic jamming was witnessed on several roads in Srinagar on Friday. The jamming was not the routine one seen usually during the peak morning and evening hours. It was the beginning of the increasing jamming due to Eid preparations related rush.
The rush is likely to pick up in coming days since the Eid-ul- Zuha is being celebrated on June 29 ( Thursday). Since only two days are left for the Eid now so large number of vehicles will be on roads from all directions. The movement of people towards the markets will be more.
This time the rush picked up late. Those associated with business say that in past the rush would start 10 days before the Eid-ul- Zuha and gain momentum with every passing day. This time the rush began three or four days before the Eid. Since it has started, there is more traffic flow on the roads.
The jamming or slow traffic movement is causing inconvenience to commuters particularly to office goers who are not able to reach on duty in time. At some places, or bottle necks, the distance which used to get covered in a few minutes takes half an hour or more now.
Violation of traffic rules like parking vehicles on the roads or vehicles coming wrongly from opposite direction add to the problems. During the next two days more vehicles will be on roads due to Eid related shopping. Wrong parking of vehicles and other violations have to be avoided for smooth vehicular movement.
The traffic police officials must effectively regulate the vehicles’ movement and deal strictly with those violating rules. The people must also follow traffic rules and cooperate with officials for smooth movement of the vehicles.
Otherwise, those travelling will get caught in massive traffic jams and their precious time will get unnecessarily wasted on roads. The traffic police must also deploy personnel at the road crossings, which remain usually unmanned and witness heavy rush during pre-Eid days.
The blocked crossings must be reopened and the non-functional traffic signals made functional again. This can help in easing the traffic congestion and regulating the traffic smoothly.
Efforts should be made so that people while travelling do not face inconvenience on roads due to traffic jamming. The movement of vehicles can be made smooth by the cooperation between those driving the vehicles and the traffic officials, thus regulating the movement.