Frequent traffic jams in Shopian making life miserable for commuters
Shopian: The mismanagement of the traffic and callous attitude of drivers and commuters has left south Kashmir’s Shopian district in complete mess which is causing inconvenience to the thousands of people especially those who have to commute on daily basis.
Locals said that the reason behind the traffic mess is the lack of parking space, mismanagement of traffic, encroachment of pathways and delay in widening of some important roads in the town.
Due to unavailability of parking space in the main town, people often pull their vehicles on roadsides which cause long and frequent traffic jams, said Bashir Ahmad, a local resident.
He said that vendors have occupied the pathways due to which pedestrians are forced to walk on the already narrow roads and it takes half an hour to cover just few hundred meters, he said.
The delay in widening of some of the roads in the main town and entry of heavy motor vehicles even during day time is creating more problems on the roads due to which two vehicles are unable to pass simultaneously, said Mohammad Yaqoob, another resident added.
Locals said that this issue was brought to the notice of concerned higher ups several times, however, nothing changed on ground as their promises proved short lived.
They once again requested the district officials to take up the matter and provide respite for the general masses.
On contacting executive officer Municipal Committee Shopian, Mohammed Ismail, he said that they are planning to shift all cab and bus stands to main bus stand Batpora and convert few of them into parking slots.
He said that within few days decision in this regard will be taken and locals will see change on ground.
