Incredible but true that Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna will have to take traffic clearance before coming to his office because Dehradun SSP has enforced one-way system on Subhash road, which is the only way to reach Chief Minister Office (CMO) in Secretariat, especially between 1.30 pm to 2.30 pm or leave period of St Joseph’s Academy. In coming days, Chief Minister’s convoy may be stuck in traffic jams due to school students, who do not bother about others and rush to their waiting vehicle during leave.
Earlier, he used to reach office at any given point of time, but now he will have to avoid visiting office during leave period of schools and this credit goes to Dehradun Police. It seems Dehradun police has become Traffic police and school police; that is why they have deployed 18 police personnel to manage crowd during leave period of the school only, at Subhash road.
On condition of anonymity, a police official said that despite receiving numerous negative feedbacks from public including a doctor, who is resident of Subhash road, district police head is not taking action. “At present, there are 18 police personnel to implement the one way system on Subhash road. They can be seen arguing with motorists, who dare to challenge the order and had to pay penalty, and in coming days they can become violent. Instead of doing so, we could divert the traffic from Abhishek tower towards Rajpur road or impose one way system during peak time, which happens in between 1.30 pm to 2.30 pm or 3 pm,” he said. It seems Dehradun SSP Kewal Khurana has made prestige issue which is why he is adamant on the order.
Despite public inconvenience Dehradun Police has refused to entertain the grievance of people who had submitted a plea before state police head around a fortnight ago. Now Secretariat employees have strengthened their voice against the one way system on Subhash Road. In this regard, they have written a letter to the General Secretary of Uttarakhand Secretariat Association (USA) to raise the issue before official concerned. The Pioneer has exclusive copy, which was signed by several secretariat employees complaining that they are facing inconvenience due to impractical decision of district police for the last 20 days. They further alleged that it seems police has imposed the decision to facilitate the St Joseph’s Academy only; otherwise, they would have opened the road by now as people are facing inconvenience since January 28.
Now the question being raised is what circumstances made the SSP divert the traffic pressure on Rajpur road and East Canal (EC) road. Have they convened a meeting with senior officials before enforcing the decisionIJ If yes, then who were the officers who attended the meeting and how many officers had supported the bidIJ
As per the letter, officials alleged that they are facing inconvenience due to enforcement of one way system on Subhash road. With this decision their colleagues, who come from districts for official obligations, have to take complete circle to reach Subhash road because they can procure gate pass of secretariat gate from Subhash road only. As per the rule one way system is implemented to decongest a road but here situation is entirely different from reality because most of time one can see police personnel deployed at the entrance sitting idle except for few hours. It seems police has enforced the one way system for the convenience of institutions without taking prior approval from secretariat administration (SAD) or state government. Prima facie they have taken the decision to please the St Joseph’s Academy only. From this perspective they have sought their association’s intervention to facilitate resumption of the earlier system on Subhash Road.
