Lack of road infra leads to traffic jams

Neeraj Bagga

Amritsar, July 29

Hundreds of CCTV cameras have been installed across the city under the ambitious Smart City project, but lack of proper road surface infrastructure, including traffic islands, zebra crossing, slip lanes, parking areas and others on the main roads lead to traffic snarls and jams throughout the day.

Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Arshadeep Singh Lubana said as of now, there was no move to regulate traffic with the help of CCTV cameras under which challans would reach the traffic violators.

There has been a phenomenal increase in the number of vehicles on the roads, which in turn has led to a rise in traffic problems here in the city. The number of vehicles keeps growing on city roads leading to congestion. About 20,000 auto-rickshaws and e-rickshaws are currently plying on the roads. But city residents feel the actual number of e-rickshaws and auto-rickshaws may be much higher than the official figure. Similarly, the Regional Transport Office has found an increase in registration of vehicles every year. During 2020, 43,501 vehicles were registered with the RTO; the next year, it was 49,298 and in 2022, as many as 56,099 vehicles were registered. In 2023, 67,045 vehicles were registered. A maximum rise of 10,946 registration of vehicles was recorded in 2023.

Surinder Singh, a resident, said almost all prominent intersections in the city, including Kacheri Chowk, Hall Gate Chowk, Lohgarh Chowk, Putlighar Chowk, Batala Road, Hall Bazaar, Heritage Street, several intersections of Ranjit Avenue, railway station, bus stand, Mall Road, Company Bagh, Narayangarh, Chheharta Chowk, Bhandari Bridge, Gol Bagh, Ratna Singh Chowk, Green Avenue, Elevated Road, Sultanwind Road, Rani Ka Bagh, Ranjit Vihar , Majitha Road bypass, Majitha Road, Gate Hakima, Khajana Gate, Verka Chowk, Vallah Chowk, Galhamala Chowk, SSSS Chowk, Albert Road, Novelty Chowk and Golden Gate had CCTV cameras installed.

However, nowhere on these roads, zebra crossing, slip lanes, parking areas and features of the road infrastructure have been earmarked. In the absence of these features, all chowks remain clogged with traffic. The police find themselves helpless in regulating them while pedestrians find it difficult to cross over as the roads witness uninterrupted flow of traffic as most of them are one-way.