No relief in sight from traffic congestion in Jagraon

Jaswant Shetra

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 24

There seems to be no end to the traffic woes of the residents of Jagraon as well as the commuters traveling on various city roads. There is hardly any road in the city which is free from the problem of traffic jams. The frequent traffic jams have become the order of day on most of the city roads, thus causing a lot of inconvenience to the commuters as well as the local residents.

One can often see long queues of vehicles stuck in traffic jams on various city roads, including Tehsil Road, Rani Jhansi Chowk, Sadan Market, Old Sabzi Mandi Road, Raikot Road, Lajpat Rai Road, Railway Road, College Road and others. The situation is worse on the local Lajpat Rai Road where several important government offices, including telephone exchange, post office as well as the branches of major banks such as State Bank of India, Punjab and Sindh Bank and Punjab National Bank are located very close to each other. The people visiting these places often park their vehicles on the roadside which results in frequent traffic jams on this road.

Lack of parking space and haphazard parking of vehicles on the roadsides by the people visiting the town are the two major reasons behind frequent traffic jams. The local residents park their vehicles haphazardly along the roads, hence causing the problem traffic jams. The visitors blame lack of proper parking space in the town for the problem.

Moreover, the illegal encroachments made by the shopkeepers on both sides of the roads are another reason behind the problem of traffic jams. The illegal encroachments by the shopkeepers and the presence of roadside vendors makes the situation even more complex.

Jagraon SSP Varinder Singh Brar said the police had been doing its best to regulate the traffic. “We have already launched a special drive against wrong parking and traffic norms violators. We have deployed traffic cops on all the busy roads and we are making every possible effort to prevent traffic jams in the town.

But the people also need to cooperate with the cops and follow traffic norms to ease the problem of traffic congestion,” suggested Brar.