Sajid Raina
Bandipora, Apr 16: Daily commuters, particularly employees and businessman, in North Kashmir’s Bandipora district, is facing a hard time due to frequent traffic jams at peak hours.
A group of commuters said that authorities have failed to regulate traffic in the main town Bandipora particularly from Kuloosa to Gulshan chowk.
They also allege that traffic jams go from bad to worse each day while the administration is still operating in the same way as it did a decade ago.
Locals said in the absence of proper traffic regulation, vehicular movement frequently comes to standstill at the vital intersection on the Kuloosa-Nowpora road.
Locals also complained that the lack of parking lots in the market increases their problems.
The commuters said that residents mostly keep the vehicles parked on the roads, leading to chaos and frequent traffic jams while the authorities are watching as mute spectacular.
“Encroachers have randomly occupied footpaths leaving no space for the movement of pedestrians and the moving vehicles even on the main streets of the town thereby also result in a massive traffic jam,” they said.
Junaid Ahmad said that he had a medical emergency but was stuck in a traffic jam at the main market for around 20-25 minutes.
“The distance could be easily covered in 5 minutes. Unfortunately, no traffic official was present there,” he said.
Saleem another local said that the failure of the authorities to ensure smooth flow of traffic has evoked strong resentment from the commuters.
“Frequent unending traffic jams have drastically affected our lives and business,” he said.
The worst affected are the government employees and businessman who reach late to the offices and other sectors,” he said.
Meanwhile, the locals have appealed to the district administration to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
