Chandigarh-Zirakpur highway choked

Gaurav Kanthwal

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Zirakpur, February 25

Residents and road users on the Chandigarh-Zirkapur highway continue to suffer as officials fail to provide a solution to the jam-like situation due to the under-construction vehiclular underpass near the border with Chandigarh.

The chock-a-block situation, however, continues to pose new problems for road users. Due to the traffic jam just after coming down from the Zirakpur flyover, motorists were seen taking a wrong U-turn on the Zirakpur-Chandigarh road and crossing over the divider towards the Baltana side near the filling station. It caused a chaos on the road in the morning, bringing the traffic to a standstill. No traffic police personnel was seen at the spot to regulate the traffic.

“After seeing a jam for almost 1 km ahead of the flyover, drivers took a U-turn and moved on the wrong side. This is an invitation to a major accident. Leave alone exploring road-widening measures, the authorities are not even bothered about deputing traffic police to stop this. It has become a free-for-all,” said KL Verma, a Zirakpur resident who commutes to and fro from Chandigarh.

Earlier, the rush hours were in the morning and the evening, but with the opening of schools, long queues are seen during the daytime as well.

City resident BB Sharma, a factory owner in Dera Bassi, said, “It has been almost three months since the construction work began. Close to two hours are wasted everyday in this traffic. It is exam time and schoolchildren are also suffering now. For office-goers and regular commuters, it is already a nightmare. It shows that the authorities have not given a thought to traffic management till now. If they have, it has clearly failed, they need to work on it as soon as possible.”

The movement of traffic for medium and heavy vehicles has been diverted from the Hallo Majra light point towards the Industrial Area, Phase 2, Panchkula, Baltana, Dhakoli and Zirakpur. Only two-wheelers and light vehicles are allowed to take the service lane of the NH-5. But this arrangement is clearly not enough. “To think that the traffic of the main road can be accommodated on the service lane is wishful thinking without caring for the resulting jam,” said VB Behl, a VIP Road resident.

Daily commuters said the rush was now spilling over to the Chandigarh side as well as bumper-to-bumper traffic was also seen at the Hallo Majra light point and the rotary near the Industrial Area in Chandigarh.