Paradox: Thy name is Kashmir
Srinagar: Kashmiri’s are a kind of their own. On Sunday when the southern district of Shopian was witnessing a blood bath, lakhs of people here in Srinagar thronged the recently opened Tulip garden much to the annoyance of the traffic cops and the locals.
“The rush of people was unprecedented as more than one lakh vehicles made it to the tulip garden situated on the banks of the famed Dal lake here,” said an official of the traffic department, who had to face a tough time dealing with the flow of the people.
“On an average three lakh people made their entry to this famed garden on Sunday. The crowd was so intense that people had to wait in queues for hours to seek a ticket and get an entry in the already overcrowded garden,” said, an official of the Gardens and Parks Department.
Interestingly, Inspector General of Police, Basant Rath who is making headlines these days for his nonconformist style of streamlining the traffic was too perplexed to see the rush of the people and the way vehicles were being maneuvered by the drivers.
“The IGP was left speechless sensing the mood among the people,” said an official accompanying him during his visit to the Boulevard road. “He remained silent most of the time and was observing how his subordinates will deal with the situation,” said the official.
“He heaved a sigh of relief late in the evening when around nine PM in the evening the meandering lines of the vehicles started to ease up and commuters were finally able to move towards their destinations,” added the official.
Surprisingly, a situation was avoided outside the tulip garden when a main stream politician representing the ‘Janata Dal’ made an attempt to maneuver his vehicle inside the tulip garden along with his armed PSO’s.
The politician threatened the cops on duty to let him move with his vehicle who raised their objections as the garden was witnessing a huge rush of people.
“The situation could have proven to be ugly for him and the administration as he insisted that he should be allowed to proceed in his vehicle,” said an eyewitness.
“The man who claimed to be a protected person even threatened a woman police officer, Sandeep Kaur of dire consequences in case he was disallowed to enter into the prohibited zone,” added the eyewitness. He said that it was mature thinking on the part of the cops who did not pay any heed to his threats that avoided a situation. The ‘leader’ was later asked by the locals to leave the place.
Meanwhile, the locals hailing from Nishat, Shalimar and other adjacent areas had to walk miles on foot to reach their destinations as the roads were crammed with vehicles along the Boulevard.
“I boarded a Sumo vehicle near Dlgate and later spending more than an hour stranded near Nehru Park, I had no other option than to de-board the vehicle and move on foot towards my home in Shalimar,” said an agitated Nazir Ahmad.
He said that the government should take a call on managing the rush of people on the Boulevard road on weekends and Sunday as the huge rush on these days leaves the locals helpless.
KV Correspondent
