Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 5: Amid protests and chaos in parts of Srinagar city, Inspector General of Police, Basant Rath, today visited old city area to get the bottle necks removed from the roads which create hurdles in the smooth flow of traffic.
Basant Rath got huge response from the people who welcomed him. He is the first such a high ranking Traffic official who has visited old city ever and cleared traffic bottlenecks which normally is the job of the Police Stations and Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).
Early in the morning, the IG Traffic accompanied SP Traffic Muzaffar Ahmad Shah and other officials started from the Khayam Chowk where shopkeepers especially those selling kebabs had encroached the part of road leading to traffic jams in the area. Accompanied by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation officials, he got the encroachments removed.
Rath also visited nearby Babdemb area and directed the shopkeepers not to encroach the roads as it blocks the traffic. At Ikhwan Chowk near Dalgate, one of the shopkeepers who sells the building material had dumped sand and gravel on the road and he got it removed immediately to clear the road. The earthmovers and trucks of SMC were pressed into service to clear the road.
At Rainawari, four cars were seized as they were put on sale by a car dealer and were parked on road. He also got the encroachments made by the shopkeepers along the road side removed at Rainawari and Karan Nagar.
Outside the SKIMS Hospital in Soura area of Srinagar, Rath got the roadside vendors, who were blocking the movement of traffic, removed. He also asked the mini-bus operators not park the vehicles on the road. He also asked the R&B Department to macadamize road outside SKIMS. He also asked the SDPO and SHO Soura not to allow any road blockades outside the Police Station which is outside the SKIMS Hospital.
He also got encroachments by shopkeepers from the roads in Lal Bazar, Molvi Staff to Bota Kadal, Kanitar, Outside Kashmir University and Nageen removed.
During his visit to the old city area, people praised his efforts and urged him that the areas need presence of traffic police so that there are no traffic jams.
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