Left turn free but not in Jammu, manpower shortage leads to poor screening and overcrowding of vehicles

 AARYAN SHARMA
JAMMU: Recently when Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti directed Director General of Police to depute at least 600 SPO’s for effective traffic management on the busy roads of Srinagar the move was appreciated by all those adversely affected by the long traffic snarls.
But instead of taking these short term measures the state traffic police department may require taking more effective steps than to deploy manpower to ease out the traffic congestion on the VVIP routes only.
So far it has been seen despite introducing traffic lights and spreading awareness among the motorists the traffic police department has failed to discipline the motorists across major urban centres of the state.
Absence of traffic cops on rural roads and hilly areas often lead to overcrowding of public transport buses , resulting in major road accidents.
Due to shortage of manpower it is difficult to carry out random checking of vehicles and verify credentials of drivers recruited by the transport companies.
The majority of commuters here in the ‘city of temples’ blatantly violate traffic, rules creating additional chaos on the busy roads.
Sometimes major accidents are reported in the city which are caused due to ignorance of traffic rules and are totally avoidable.
Another major problem faced by motorists is blocking of ‘Left’ lane by those people who do not wish to take ‘left turn’ and yet slow down their vehicles when traffic signal light goes red.
There are numerous locations here in the city of temples where if left turn remain block for even one minute, it leads to accumulation of traffic on the already busy road.
Sometimes the situation leads to utter chaos and tense moments at busy traffic signals as motorists are often seen shouting at each other over their ignorance and importance of keeping the ‘left turn’ free.
The worse thing is all these violations are recorded in the presence of ‘men in blue’ but instead of taking action or guiding them they also remain aloof and allow the motorists to play havoc with the traffic management system.
According to official sources, “an average 1.10 lakh vehicles are added in the list of registered vehicles in the state every year and till date no effort has been made to regulate the traffic on the city roads.
At many other places especially on the Kunjwani -Narwal By pass road, even the service lanes remain choked by parking vehicles and show room owners misusing the space for their personal interest.
In the walled city haphazard parking on the road sides and poor demarcation of parking lots lead to traffic jams. The situation takes ugly turn during day time when local schools are off and their school buses and private transport leads to rush on the city roads.
Over a period of time as several traffic lights have developed technical snag, the same have not been repaired adding to the miseries of the motorists. Initially, traffic police department had raised sign boards to educate the motorists but even then the menace of blocking the ‘left’ lane has not been checked or properly addressed in the recent months.