Flyovers needed, Ring Road may not be total solution

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 22

The ambitious Rs2,023.87-crore Ring Road project, the foundation stone of which was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a few days ago, is unlikely to end the ever-increasing traffic chaos in Jammu as the PDP-BJP government continues to ignore road infrastructure development within the core city area comprising 71 municipal wards.

The ruling alliance partners are yet to formulate a comprehensive plan to construct alternate roads and new flyovers within the winter capital, having a population of nearly a million people.

The Master Plan-2032 has recommended new roads and flyovers, but the ruling dispensation has not shown any interest in the revival of KC Chowk to Janipur via Ambphalla and Jewel Chowk to Talab Tillo flyovers. These were abandoned by the previous NC-Congress coalition government after being pressurised by some influential people close to the then ruling dispensation as their residential houses were coming in the way.

Interestingly, the Asian Development Bank had agreed to fund the project but in February, the state government had announced in the Legislative Assembly that there were no plans to revive the flyover project.

“What happened to the Canal Road flyover project and BC Road-Amphalla project? We have not seen any new road constructed in the past 30 years while the total number of registered vehicles has steadily increased. The road network, however, has not been expanded to meet the increased demand,” said Kuldeep Singh, a resident of New Plot area.

There are five main radial roads entering the Jammu city from different directions i.e. Srinagar, Pathankot, Akhnoor, RS Pura and Kot Bhalwal, bringing the entire regional traffic to the heart of the city. In the past three decades, no efforts have been made on road expansion.

Even if the 58-km-long Ring Road is made operational in the proposed 24-month time period, the vehicles from other parts of the district will enter the Jammu municipal limits only as a majority of the offices and educational institutions are within the core city area.

“The Ring Road will start near Vijaypur and meet the highway at Akhnoor and then Nagrota bypass. It will be a better route for the tourists and those travelling to other parts of the region, but it will not bring down the number of vehicles on the city roads. To tackle this problem, we need infrastructure development within the municipal limits,” said Tarsem Lal, a transporter.

When asked to comment on the issue, Jammu Development Authority vice-chairman Rajesh Kumar Shrivan said: “We are doing a preliminary survey of the proposed changes to be brought in the existing road infrastructure under the Jammu Master Plan. The projects will be taken up in the next few years.” He, however, did not elaborate further.

There are two major projects announced by the government for the city i.e. bus rapid transit system and monorail. However, sources said the projects need private investment worth crores, robust management system and modern technology to utilise the existing scarce space for construction, which seems to be beyond the scope of the present system.