Road to Chaos

Mustaq highlights the disconnect between increasing vehicular traffic and the poor state of infrastructure, and is concerned about public safety and impact on tourism

(Mr. Mushtaq Sidiqi, 56, was born in Srinagar. He went to the C.M.S Tyndale Biscoe Memorial School, Srinagar, and completed his B.A. from the Amar Singh College, Srinagar. He received M.A. (Economics), and L.L.B. from the University of Kashmir. Mr. Sidiqi is employed in the J&K Government Service, presently serving in the position of Special Secretary in the Finance Department. He enjoys English Poetry and writing articles on matteres of public interest.)


Restore Road Order

Srinagar, the Capital City of the State, is these days buzzing with lot of activities. Incessant rains are a welcome sign for the tourists turning in large numbers mainly from hot and dusty conditions prevailing elsewhere in the country. But is this city otherwise dressed up appropriately to receive them in other aspects as well? From the awful traffic scenario prevailing all around here, certainly not!

Rampant traffic jams are mainly the result of large scale illegal permissions granted by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation to commercial complexes in the garb of residential houses, none caring for fall-outs on the traffic scenario and on the urban face of this tourist city. With the scope of road widening very limited, the mammoth increase in the number of small and big vehicles plying in the city have made things worse. Slow pace on the implementation of approved road-widening schemes have added to the woes of people. As if this was not enough, inaction on the part of authorities encouraged some people to indulge in the sale- purchase of every type of vehicle ranging from motor-cycles to luxurious cars. This made pavements as their sale points thereby giving rise to chaotic traffic conditions in the process!

Mercifully, the realization seems to have now dawned upon the authorities who have initiated the much needed action to arrest this state of affair and to restore semblance of order. The action has started in Karan Nagar area where this kind of unruly behaviour on the part of some shopkeepers had blocked pavements and roadsides for use by pedestrians besides allowing nearly the half portion of the road to serve the parking needs of illegal commercial complexes which have no such provision. For present, people have been relieved of this menace and a semblance of order has been restored to an extent for over past couple of days, despite protests from these shop keepers who seemed to make merry out of unchecked violations and were reluctant to come to terms with the fact that their actions were completely illegal causing avoidable hardship to common people.

This is just the start of eradicating a problem that has over the past few years assumed colossal proportions at the expense of public convenience. People of the Srinagar city and those who visit it from outside deserve better civic conditions. Dirty surroundings and awful traffic conditions instantly make a visitor think otherwise about the place on landing in the City. Now that the tourism is picking up and the nature too is favourably inclined towards this place, it is about the time that the authorities go ahead seriously in enforcing the law as it should be.

We are lucky in having the State’s first female Divisional Commissioner a local person whose knowledge about the Srinagar City is immense. She is a hard administrator as well and, therefore, an ideal person, in the given situation, to rid the city of its traffic problems. All that she would be needing is a committed support from the general public and the local administration, municipality and the traffic authorities. The State Officers heading these institutions have attained a credible name for their service to the State. Therefore, the situation is well placed for us to expect orderly traffic conditions in city in days to come. The gains that have been made so far thus need to be consolidated.