Commuters faced a tough time on Monday as major routes of Srinagar witnessed massive traffic jams.
Various routes of the summer capital including Rajbagh, TRC, Jehangir Chowk, Budshah Chowk Batamaloo and Tengpora witnessed traffic jams for several hours—causing inconvenience to commuters.
Adding to the traffic mess, several vehicles coming out of civil secretariat passed through wrong side. In absence of proper traffic regulation, vehicular movement came to a grinding halt near Police Control Room junction. Several ambulances were also stranded in the traffic jams at Batamaloo around 6 pm.
“This is sheer mismanagement of traffic. For over half-an-hour, I am stranded in traffic jam. Traffic policemen are only paving way for VIPs,” said an aggrieved commuter pointing towards posse of traffic police near the main gate of Civil Secretariat.
The problem was compounded by presence of dozens of street vendors who have encroached upon the roadsides at Batamaloo. At Tengpora, several automobile workshops have blocked the main road by repairing vehicles there.
“While authorities make tall claims of streamlining traffic, however they have failed to address basic problems of encroachment of roads and streets which is a major bottleneck for smooth flow of traffic,” said a group of commuters.
A senior Traffic officer said, “the traffic jams in the city were caused due to abrupt traffic pressure after holiday on Saturday and Sunday.”
