Jammu jammed

Deepali Kaul
The clock ticked….60, 59, 58……”It’s taking forever to turn Green!”. These were my Dad’s words quite laced with impatience while racing towards home. I could sense a whiff of annoyance in his tone. The traffic slowed to a crawl. The horns grew louder and the cacophony was blaring. Some innocent citizens oblivious of an approaching signal drove past them and became the scapegoats of the churlishness of the traffic policemen. That narrow road was too full of people, too full of similarly colored vehicles, too full of varied noises, just too full of human beings. I tried to remember who had said:
I wished I loved the human race;
I wished I loved its silly face.
I couldn’t.
The thought struck me. Jammu is not geared up yet to deal with the newly installed traffic signals. The confusion amongst the people was evident enough that the idea of such a transformation of Jammu into a mini megalopolis had not yet synched in the minds of the localites. Jammu has been a no- signal- and- a no –seat- belt city since time immemorial and it has been blissful, the fact of which many would concur with me. The traffic was a lot lesser. The public buses plied here and there. With the advent of the malls, the shopping retails, the eating and the new lifestyle hang-out joints in the past decade, the booming population has been mobilized to the soul and spirit.
I have lived in Pune for 2 years. To me, this hustle and bustle seemed regular and customary. I said “Dad! These lights are everywhere! It’s not a big deal!”. It was perhaps a big deal for him. For everyone in the city as a matter of fact. While to me, it was an antidote to the humdrum of the city, to the others it was a change. A progressive change. Inevitable law of nature. Obviously, when a long followed routine is swerved, the equilibrium is disturbed.
May be this was too soon a change to be implemented. Because broad generalizations sometimes overlooks the little complexities, may be something else needed to be done on priority- like structuring well developed bus stops and upgrade the already existing ones. Owing to a tremendous increase in the private vehicles, the fact cannot be neglected that still a considerable population depends on the public transport. It ferries them through their routine work related cobwebs. Public transport is not only a lifeline for the common masses but can also send the economy of the state spiraling.
Currently, the situation is in sorry-state-of-affairs. The buses veer their way through the narrow roads and stop just at any point, be it in the middle of a busy road to board or alight the passengers. This poses a grave unforeseen danger to the fellow commuters who have to screech their vehicles off to a halt to avoid a collision. Sometimes they may not be even that fortunate.
Although, there aren’t any planned in-roads for the LMVs, yet the traffic circumstances are not always similar. Almost every type of vehicle plies on the same road. You may be sometimes escorted by an overloaded bus on one side and a loaded dump truck on the other. The 2 or more buses are often seen competing and running past each other simultaneously, the conductors who appear no less than hoodlums yell the destinations to gather pedestrians. With them being in your way, there is simply no place to budge.  This causes traffic jams during peak hours.
To sum it up, this sector requires a lot of discipline and a comprehensive traffic plan which if implemented effectively would purge the operational inefficiencies. The authorities have already taken a step towards ensuring a smooth traffic flow by introducing signals. Still, much needs to be done. Sound regulatory policies are needed. The locals and the bus drivers need to be educated regarding traffic laws so that everyone can cope up with the soaring traffic problems. This would be helpful in the long run as the city is in its growth phase along with its fast growing middle class population. The traffic authorities need to develop a vision so as to accelerate the development and also devise means to support the occasional encumbrances.

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