Jahangeer Ganaie
Anantnag, Oct 30: The mismanagement of the traffic and callous attitude of officials has left Bijbehara town in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district and main town Kulgam in complete mess causing inconvenience to the commuters and locals.
Locals said that the reason behind the mess is due to lack of parking space, mismanagement of traffic, encroachment of pathways and delay in widening of some important roads leading to these towns “Due to unavailability of parking space in the main town Bijbehara, people often park their vehicles on roadsides which cause long and frequent traffic jams,” Mohammad Abbas, a resident of Bijbehara.
“At several places, haphazard parking of vehicles hampers traffic movement. Some shopkeepers even park their vehicles in markets. This also leads to traffic jams and causes inconvenience to us,” he said. “It is high time that the concerned authorities wake up from slumber and restore the traffic system.”
Locals from Kulgam town also echoed the same voice and said that traffic jams have become the order of the day in the town. According to them it is mainly due to parking of vehicles along the road side and encroaching footpaths.
Danish Ahmad, a local resident, said that vendors and shopkeepers are occupying the pathways due to which pedestrians are forced to walk on the already narrow roads and it takes half an hour to cover just a few hundred meters.
A group of employees said the defunct traffic management has put their jobs at stake as they fail to reach their respective offices on time.
“During peak hours, the traffic authorities usually start checking vehicles on main roads which worsens the mess,” they said.
The traffic jam can be witnessed anytime in a day near sub- district hospital Bijbehara, Goriwan, Padshibagh, Zippora and other spots due to which hundreds of people are suffering in Bijbehara, while as per locals traffic is mainly witnessed from clock tower to DC office side.
Locals from both towns said that this issue was brought in notice of concerned higher ups several times, however, nothing changed on ground as their promises proved short lived.
“We once again requested higher ups to look into the matter and take steps so that the public can heave a sigh of relief,” they said.
