Illegal parking creates traffic chaos at bus stand, BC Road

Tribune News service

Jammu, February 11

Illegal parking of private vehicles continues to create chaos at the General Bus Stand and BC Road as the administration and traffic police fail to take any strict action against the violations.

The lack of proper parking space for vehicles results in frequent jams on the BC Road. Private buses operating illegally turn the road into a parallel bus stand. “Private buses pick passengers for Poonch, Banihal, Chamb, Doda, Katra, Srinagar and also outside the state for Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Chandigarh from there,” said Suresh Sharma, a daily commuter.

The situation has become more chaotic because of influx of nearly 20,000 additional vehicles in the city due to shifting of the civil secretariat.

The situation goes messy during the morning, afternoon and evening hours as cars, busses and two-wheelers struck in jams fight each other to move ahead.

Though the government has constructed a new bus stand at Khanpur on the outskirts of the city, but the traders and transport unions have opposed the shifting of the bus stand saying that it will create operational problems for them.

“There is need for a multi-level parking in the area and project has been approved, but there is no land around to build it. It will take years before such a project will be completed,” said a Jammu Development Authority (JDA) official.

As per the data, there are only nine parking lots under the JDA with capacity to park 1,200 cars and 500 two-wheelers. Plans for creating multi-parking structures at the bus stand and Shalimar and other projects have been struck at the survey level for the past five years and nothing has been done to make them functional, despite several official statements from the ministers holding the charge of urban development.