There seems to be no end to the prevailing traffic chaos in the city as in some of the areas electric traffic signals have been installed, but are non-functional. The situation is more alarming in main areas of the city like Green Belt, Gandhi Nagar, Panama Chowk, etc, where the defunct traffic signals leads to traffic jams.
“For what purpose the traffic lights have been installed when the authorities have failed to maintain them properly. The traffic signals installed on the Narwal bypass road on the outskirts of the city have not been functioning for the past few weeks. As a result, there is traffic chaos everyday,” said Razak, a resident of Narwal.
“Instead of repairing the non-functional traffic signals to regulate traffic in a proper way, the department deployed traffic personnel to handle heavy rush of vehicles, which is not an easy task keeping in mind the heavy inflow of vehicles. There are many areas in Jammu city where traffic lights are not functioning properly,” said Gautam, a resident of Canal Road.
The traffic signals in areas where there is heavy traffic, like Jewel Chowk, Canal Road, Panama Chowk, Shakuntala Chowk, Rehari, etc, too, are not functioning.
When contacted, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Traffic, Mohan Lal admitted that there were technical faults in some traffic signals being installed in some areas of the city. “Yes, the traffic lights which are non-functional at some points have technical faults,” said the SSP, Traffic. When asked about how much time it will take to repair these signals to make them function again, SSP, Traffic, Mohan Lal said, “The lights have been installed by the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and it is their duty to repair them.” “Our sole job is to ensure smooth flow of traffic, while the repair/maintenance of traffic lights is the responsibility of the JMC,” he added.
The electric traffic signals lights were inaugurated on August 4, 2012, at Bikram Chowk by then Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand. The traffic light project was undertaken by the JMC at a cost of Rs 250 lakh.
