Ishtiyaq Kar
Srinagar, Nov 19: Amid the spurt of road accidents and subsequent crackdown on the minor drivers by the Traffic Police in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley, Srinagar has of late witnessed a massive surge in the number of vehicles as the figure has touched to four lakh in the capital city alone.
Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Kashmir Syed Shahnawaz Bukhari said that in Srinagar alone, there are 3.75 lakh vehicles plying every day.
“The number mounts further when the vehicles from other districts of Kashmir enter the city,” he said.
Syed Shahnawaz said that in view of the shortage of manpower at the RTO it is very challenging to overcome the traffic issues.
“Despite manpower issues, RTO is trying its best along with the traffic department and traffic police to streamline the traffic and to address the issue of rising traffic accidents. We are also addressing the issues of minors driving two-wheelers and four-wheelers,” he said.
He said the issue of minors driving vehicles came to limelight in the wake of the recent incident of death of two young students at Tengpora, Srinagar. “The fact remains that we were doing our job earlier as well,” the RTO said, adding that apart from the rising number of private vehicles in Srinagar, a large chunk of vehicles coming from Delhi and other states is also adding to the traffic woes in the Valley.
He further said that there is no room for minors to drive vehicles as they are not eligible for licenses till they attain the age of 18.
Pertinently, the recent incident at Tengpora, Srinagar in which two young students lost their lives sent shock waves across the Valley prompting the traffic department and RTO office to step up its drive against minor drivers. In the past five days, almost 1500 two wheelers and four-wheelers driven by the minors were seized. The parents of children driving the vehicles were also called to respected traffic police stations for counselling.
