Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 10: Winter capital of the State virtually came to standstill on Monday as unprecedented traffic jams on the city routes choked the vehicular movement throughout the day thus subjecting the commuters to face acute hardships in reaching their destinations.
What to talk of minibuses, the most common mode of transportation in Jammu and other four-wheelers, even two wheelers were seen stuck in the traffic jams which continued for hours at frequent intervals, particularly in the morning and evening hours.
While there was a complete chaos on the city roads, the much needed visibility of Traffic cops, who are supposed to streamline the vehicular movement, was almost negligible for the reasons best know to the concerned authorities.
The situation could be gauged from the fact that right from morning till late evening hours, the entire BC road was completely jammed with the result that all the connecting routes were also choked.
Right from morning around 9.30 a,m, vehicular movement on the Jammu city roads started slowing down and within half an hour, all the major city routes, including, Amphalla- Janipur High Court Road, Talab-Tillo Canal road, BC Road, etc were virtually choked. The vehicles were seen moving at snail’s pace and it took hours together for covering even small distances.
Traffic congestion on the main routes soon engulfed interior roads, where vehicles remained stuck for hours as there was no one from the concerned agency to streamline the traffic.
Not only the city routes but even the Express Corridors (flyovers) and Gandhi Nagar roads also experienced traffic jams at frequent intervals with long queues of vehicles moving at virtually zero speed.
Such was the extent of traffic chaos that even the commuters traveling on foot to reach their destinations, had to face hardships in making way. “There could have been hardly anyone who would have reached the destinations timely on Monday,” remarked a passerby while narrating the woes of his colleagues in a Government office where biometric attendance has been mandated.
Though a few Traffic cops were seen running from here and there to control the vehicular movement but only at the crossings and routes where there was VVIP movement. However, no one was visible to take care of the pathetic traffic situation at the routes completely choked for hours. At these places, commuters had no option but to take initiative on their own attempting to get the jam cleared.
The chaos like situation on the maximum city roads continued throughout the day and even persisted till late evening hours at a few routes giving an impression like lawlessness on the Winter capital roads.
According to SSP Traffic, Joginder Singh, who remained on toes the whole day for regulating vehicular movement on the city roads, intermittent rains since morning, VVIP movement in the Winter Capital and marriage season contributed to the traffic chaos on Monday.
“Owing to bad weather, maximum commuters who own cars, preferred to travel by their personal vehicle with the result that number of four-wheelers on the already congested city roads suddenly swelled thus leading to traffic jams,” he explained adding that VVIP movements and marriage season added the problem even as Traffic Police tried its level best to control the situation.
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