Traffic jams choke Jagraon
Our Correspondent
Jagraon, November 18
There seems to be no end in sight to the problem of traffic jams for the residents of Jagraon as well as the commuters travelling on various city roads. There is hardly any road in Jagraon which is free from traffic jams and commuters continue to face a lot of troubles due to the increasing problem of traffic congestion in the town.
The frequent traffic jams have become an order of day on most of the city roads thus causing a lot of inconvenience to the commuters traveling on various city roads. One can often see long queues of vehicles struck in traffic jams on different roads including Tehsil Road, Rani Jhansi Chowk, Sadan Market, Kamal Chowk, Old Sabzi Mandi Road, Raikot Road, Lajpat Rai Road, Railway Road and College Road.
Though the problem of traffic congestion is visible on all the main roads of the town but most drastic situation is on Lajpat Rai Road, Nehru Market and College Road where several important government offices including Telephone Exchange, Post Office, schools, colleges and branches of several major banks such as State Bank of India, Punjab and Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India, are located very close to each other. Besides several educational institutes including LRDAV College, RK High School, Khalsa School for Girls and some others are also located on these roads.
The people visiting these places often park their vehicles on the roadsides which results in frequent traffic jams on these roads. Long queues of vehicles struck in traffic jams is a common sight on these roads and it takes a lot of time for the commuters to pass from these roads. The situation is worst at Old Sabzi Mandi Chowk where traffic jams are a regular sight. Similar is the situation on various other roads of the town where traffic remains choked throughout the day due to haphazard parking of vehicles by the visitors.
The local residents hold haphazard parking of vehicles on the roadsides by the visitors responsible for the problem of traffic jams. The visitors, on the other hand, blame lack of proper parking space in the town for the problem.
Moreover, illegal encroachments made by the shopkeepers outside their shops on the roadsides, is another reason behind the problem of traffic jams. The illegal encroachments made by the shopkeepers on the roadsides make the already narrow lanes of the town more narrow thus obstructing the smooth flow of traffic. Besides this, presence of a large number of vends and makeshift kiosks put up by the roadside vendors on roadsides have also added up to the problem of traffic congestion.
Though the local traffic police have worked out different plans to overcome the problem of traffic jams but these initiatives have failed to bring out desired results and the problem still persists. SHO Jagraon Sukminder Singh said the police have been doing its best to control the situation. “We are taking every possible step to prevent the traffic jams. We have deployed cops on all the busy roads to regulate the traffic but we need cooperation from the public which is quite important for improving the situation,” said the SHO.
