Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 7: Expressing grave concern over the utterly chaotic traffic scenario in old Jammu city, NPP chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh has flayed the State Govt for its flawed policies and faulty priorities with regard to the issue of traffic de-congestion and construction of flyovers in the city.
Singh said that issue of traffic congestion had assumed alarming proportions in the city with the Govt adopting a very casual, half- hearted and indifferent approach towards the issue. He said that the Govt was supposed to make a proper assessment of most crowded areas of the city and spell out the priorities for construction of flyovers on need basis. He said that there was urgent need to provide flyovers from Jewel Chowk to Talab Tillo; Ambphalla to Janipur; Bikram Chowk to Satwari ; Balwinder Chowk to Rehari; Gandhi Nagar to Narwal; besides others in view of persistent demands of public and repeated Govt announcements made on the subject.
He wondered as to what prompted the erstwhile Cong-NC Govt to prioritize only one flyover and that too, from Bikram Chowk to Convent crossing only without extending it upto Satwari Chowk. The BJP-PDP Govt was trying to sell its predecessor’s project without caring for its extension to Satwari Chowk as per popular demand. He said that the demand of the public even in this area pertained to construction of flyover from Bikram Chowk to Satwari so as to ensure free and un-interrupted movement of heavy vehicles as well as other passenger traffic entering Jammu from other towns as also for catering to the inter-State traffic.
NPP leader said rather than providing the much sought after relief, the Govt chose to terminate the said project at convent crossing without justifying as to how it would cater to the traffic related issues in the area. The Govt was only trying to fulfill a mere formality in the wake of growing public criticism against traffic congestion by embarking upon the said flyover project, Singh said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel