Traffic jams: A routine affair in Field Ganj

Jaswant Shetra

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 17

The Field Ganj area of the city is prone to traffic jams. A lot of chaos prevails on roads throughout the day in this area. The commuters passing from the Field Ganj area face lot of problems due to vehicular snarls. The situation turns worse during peak hours when traffic increases manifolds leaving residents stuck in jams for a long time.

In fact, Field Ganj is one of the busiest areas of the city as it has a large number of shops of spare part and machine tools dealers, besides cloth merchants and others traders. Thousands of people visit these shops every day. Roads in the area are already congested. Majority of commercial buildings lack parking space due to which visitors have no option except to park their vehicles on roadsides.

Roads including the main stretch leading to the Civil Hospital from the Jagraon Bridge side and others are full of vehicles every time of the day. The commuters say encroachments by shopkeepers outside their establishments and presence of roadside vendors create problems.

“Most shopkeepers have displayed goods outside their shops, which further congests already narrow roads. It leaves little space for the movement of vehicles resulting in frequent traffic jams,” said Vipin, a commuter.

Shopkeepers on the other hand say haphazard parking of vehicles on roadsides by visitors create problems. “There is no arrangement for parking of vehicles in most commercial buildings. People often park their cars and other vehicles haphazardly on roadsides. It obstructs flow of traffic,” said Rishav Kohli, a shopkeeper.

According to area residents, the traffic police and the Municipal Corporation (MC) authorities should work in tandem to reduce the problem. “Providing sufficient parking space is the need of the hour. Besides, the civic authorities must act strictly against roadside vendors and encroachers while the traffic cops need to be tough with the people, who haphazardly park vehicles,” suggested Bal Krishan Goel, a local resident.

What creates traffic snarls?

• Field Ganj is one of the busiest areas of the city as it has a large number of shops. Thousands of people visit these shops every day. 
• Majority of commercial buildings in the area lack parking space due to which visitors  park their vehicles haphazardly on roadsides. 
• Roads including the main stretch leading to the Civil Hospital from the Jagraon Bridge side are full of vehicles throughout the day. 
• Most shopkeepers display goods outside their shops, which further congests already narrow roads and hampers flow of vehicles.