Adil Lateef
SRINAGAR, Oct 22: Although the State Government was successful in persuading reluctant transporters over shifting of General Bus Stand (GBS) from Batamaloo in city centre to Parimpora on city’s outskirts but it has failed to end traffic mess on key Qamarwari-Shalteng stretch.
Recently for more than a month, the transporters of erstwhile GBS Batamaloo were resisting Government’s decision to shift the terminal to Parimpora on Srinagar-Baramulla and Srinagar-Bandipora Highway. However, after some assurances the transporters whose buses ply on inter-district routes decided to end their strike and resume operations from new terminal at Parimpora.
The Government while announcing its decision of shifting the decades old GBS from Batamaloo to Parimpora had claimed that it will “decongest the core area”. However, on ground, the situation has not changed and the traffic mess continues to dominate morning and evening hours at Qamarwari, Parimpora and Shalteng.
“The situation is same and I think it has turned worse now. Earlier, the traffic jam used to occur mainly at Qamarwari but now it occurs at Parimpora, where new terminal is located and at Shalteng as well. We don’t think it has anything,” said a resident of Shalteng on city outskirts. The transporters also agreed that shifting of the GBS has created more traffic chaos and caused inconvenience to commuters.
The transporters at new Parimpora terminal said they have had already made it clear to the Government that traffic congestion will increase instead of decreasing by shifting the GBS. “The reason is that they shifted everything from buses to mini-buses and cabs to Parimpora which sans enough space and facilities as per motor vehicle rules. It has not been established on modern lines,” said general secretary of Kashmir Transporters Welfare Associa-tion, Sheikh Mohammad Yousuf.
Yousuf while explaining the reasons for continous traffic mess said the newly established Parimpora bus terminal, which is spread on 57 kanals of land, can accommodate only 80 buses, equal numbers of mini-buses and cabs and 40 auto-rickshaws. “The erstwhile GBS at Batamaloo was spread on 105 kanals and you can well judge the space constraint. Now what is happening is that these passenger mini-buses and cabs roam here and there and also rush back to Batamaloo for want of space and it is resulting in traffic mess,” he said.
The commuters, who travel on daily basis to and fro Srinagar, complained of severe difficulties due to traffic congestion and shifting of terminal. “Firstly, we have to board one bus to Parimpora from Batamaloo and then another from Parimpora. It consumes our time and has disturbed time table as well. The other passengers face similar problems,” said a bank executive posted in Baramulla district of North Kashmir.
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