Eid-ul-Azha is approaching and would be celebrated in this part of the globe on July 10. Coupled with tourist rush and pilgrimage to Amarnathji cave shrine, the volume of traffic in Srinagar and adjoining districts is only going to increase in the days ahead. The number of vehicles clogging roads already continues to be huge. Amid this, traffic jams have been witnessed at several places and the problem is refusing to go away despite some efforts to address it recently. At times, the roads witness serpentine queues of stranded vehicles and people are left wandering in their vehicles.
The popular market and tourist places having the highest footfall are badly affected in terms of choking roads and in view of the approaching events, there would be need for better management of the traffic especially in Srinagar district’s commercial areas.
Earlier this year, the Chief Secretary of J&K rightly underlined the need for scientific study of all the bottlenecks and addressing them without delay. He had asked officers concerned to identify places for parking of vehicles at all the busy locations. There is need proper application of scientific knowledge in erecting barriers and diversions, he had underlined.
The civilized societies have better solutions for their problems and that the management of traffic should reflect the civility. There is need for short, mid and long term solutions for the traffic problem.
Measures to reduce traffic speed are considered essential to reducing casualties on the road. Globally speed cameras are increasingly helping to reduce traffic speeds and as a consequence casualties. There is a need for an expansion in the use of cameras. Also health professionals need to be engaged in an informed debate about the effectiveness of cameras and also propagate awareness.
There is also a need to check over-speeding by the drivers and ensure strict compliance to the fixed speed limits. The chief secretary has also rightly directed the concerned to conduct checking of vehicles in a regulated manner without causing disruption to the smooth traffic movement on highway. Police checking and nakas in haphazard manner prove bad in overall traffic scenario. The enforcement agencies have been asked to submit the factual reports of each checking drive with the higher authorities for ensuring suitable penal action against the delinquents. This is a right step and efforts must be taken to ensure transparency in this account.