Huge rush of tourists chokes Shimla roads

Shimla, June 4

With Shimla registering an increase in tourist arrivals, traffic snarls on city roads have become order of the day. The tall claims of the Police Department about streamlining traffic have fallen flat as long queues of vehicles can be seen on a majority of city roads these days.

After working well initially, the ‘One-Minute Plan’ of the traffic police has failed to regulate traffic amid the heavy tourist inflow. One can see long queues of vehicles stuck in traffic jams on the Circular Road, Cart Road, near Kachi Ghati, Victory Tunnel, the Lift, Khalini, Dhalli, Sanjauli, Chhota Shimla as well as on the road leading from the Bishop Cotton School to the old bus stand.

A group of tourists, who was stuck in a traffic jam near the Cart Road, said, “We come to Shimla every year and it is the same story all over again. The state government and administration are well aware of the issue of traffic congestion. They should have taken the necessary steps in advance to facilitate tourists who take out special time to visit the city.”

Another tourist from Chandigarh Karun said they had to spend hours in covering the small distance between Shoghi and Shimla as there was a long queue of vehicles that continued for many kilometres.

Shimla SP Sanjeev Gandhi said, “It is peak tourist season and more than 17,000 vehicles have entered the city this weekend. We had switched off the one-minute rule for three hours on Saturday, which led to the traffic problem in the city. The situation was aggravated further after a road caved in. However, the traffic is moving smoothly today which proves that the one-minute plan is working well.”