Defunct traffic lights create logjams on Srinagar roads
Srinagar: Despite claims from authorities on the improvement of traffic in summer capital Srinagar, various traffic signals on vital junctions of the city are lying defunct
According to irked commuters and transporters the traffic signals which were installed at vital junctions in and around the city are either dysfunctional or displaying a faulty signal.
Reports said that traffic signals at Polo View, Dalgate, Shalteng, Jahangir Chowk, Rainawari, and Nowgam are lying defunct for the many months with people pitching for their restoration and expressed serious concern over the issue.
Commuters are very angry as nobody from the administration is bothered to fix the traffic signal system in the city.
“It took me two hours to reach Lal Chowk from Nowgam due to the heavy traffic jam. Normally the distance can be covered in 30 minutes. Traffic signal is lying defunct for the last many months which has led to traffic mess”, said Manzoor Ahmad, a commuter.
As per commuters, most of the traffic signals which were installed in the summer capital several years ago are lying defunct and authorities are least bothered about the issue.
Kaisar Hussain, a daily commuter said that some of the traffic signals are put on off mode which results in chaos and confusion among the people.
“The traffic signals at vital junctions are dysfunctional forcing the Traffic police to manually regulate vehicular movement,” he said.
He added in a distance of approximately two kilometer stretch in city centre multiple traffic signals are lying dysfunctional.
Another commuter, Sameer Ahmad said that due to the dysfunctional traffic signals, vehicles cross through no entry zones at will. “There is no one to stop people from creating traffic mess,” he said.
On the other hand traffic authorities in many parts of Srinagar city are having hard time managing traffic due to dysfunctional traffic signals.
Since past many months several signals are not operating properly. On daily basis traffic policemen in the city are seen managing traffic without signals in the wake of congested roads.
The residents of city alleged that the traffic signals which were installed at the congested junctions were never functional.
“Since the traffic signals were installed here, I have never seen them functional. The areas like Dalgate, Ram Bagh and Lal Chowk are very congested and the traffic signal would have been very useful in controlling huge rush of vehicles. But authorities are least bothered about this,” Danish Rasool, a local resident of Batamaloo said.
He said the issue has become irritating for the patients coming from South and North Kashmir areas to the Srinagar’s major hospitals. Even the ambulances are often seen stuck in the traffic jam at the junctions, risking lives of patients.
People accused the traffic department and SMC of not showing any seriousness to provide any relief to the commuters. They have now urged government to quickly install traffic signals at vital spots in city to overcome the crisis.
A senior official at Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) said that the traffic, lights are being upgraded because the old signals will be replaced with the new traffic signals that will work automatically according to the traffic flow.
“Currently signals are operating on normal mode and it will be upgraded to the intelligent traffic signals,” he said. (KNT)
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