Areas that are major traffic bottlenecks need attention

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, January 19

An under-construction railway over-bridge, a flyover and the out of bound Rigo bridge have led to poor traffic scene in the holy city. Frequent jams on various roads including those in the walled city have been troubling the residents.

City residents are miffed over the failure of the district administration as well as civic authorities and the police department in streamlining traffic in a city that is a major centre of tourism and spiritual pilgrimage attracting a large number of people.

Rampant encroachments by shopkeepers and vendors, lack of parking space and haphazardly parked vehicles are the other major factors that have spiralled in the past couple of years. The ever rising number of vehicles and whimsically driven auto-rickshaws and e-rickshaws have also contributed to frequent traffic snarls. The traffic police is also ill-equipped to handle such enormous problem.

The recent anti-encroachment drives initiated by the police along with Municipal Corporation officials have failed to produce the desired results as the situation is back to square one just after a few days.

Among the major traffic bottlenecks are areas like Putlighar Chowk, Gwalmandi Chowk, Railway Station, Hall Gate, Majitha Road, Lawrence Road chowk, Bhandari Bridge, Queenz road, areas near Golden Temple, Vallah chowk on Amritsar-Attari bypass road etc.

At present, a flyover is under construction at Vallah chowk besides a railway bridge that connects the main GT road with Islamabad area further leading towards the walled city and other important roads. It has been under construction for a long time now. The Rigo Bridge that connects the GT road with walled city area near Gobindgarh Fort was also closed by the district administration for safety reasons as it was declared unsafe for heavy vehicular traffic.

Besides, lack of traffic and parking sense among the people is also to be blamed for the mess.

“People hardly think twice before parking their vehicles in a haphazard manner. They do not care for the convenience of other commuters,” said a traffic cop.

“They also prefer not to abide by the traffic lights and jump red light deliberately, thereby creating bottlenecks,” the cop added.

Amandeep Kaur, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said that certain development works in the city had definitely added to the traffic chaos but the police has been making efforts to regulate traffic in the city She added that police have been making efforts to resolve the isse. She said, “We have made several roads which often witnessed jams free of encroachments.”

“However, people should also cooperate and behave in a responsible manner while commuting. We will deal with the offenders with an iron hand soon,” she said.