Police administration has recently imposed a ban on religious procession and protest rallies on main roads and intersections in Dehradun. The decision was taken to prevent the major traffic congestion resulting from such processions. However, observers are skeptical about whether the restriction will be enforced effectively by the authorities or fizzle out like some other initiatives taken to regulate traffic in the provisional state capital.
With hundreds of people from various parts of the State hitting the roads for several reasons including political rallies, religious procession, protests, rallies for a social cause and awareness campaigns, major traffic jams have become much more frequent in Dehradun. The situation turns grimmer on important busy roads with congestion lasting hours on days when large rallies are carried out.
Due to rallies, at many of the important roads across the city, vehicles are found stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, leaving the commuters in the lurch. Among the worst affected areas were Prince Chowk, Saharanpur Chowk, Gandhi Road, Survey Chowk, Dilaram Chowk, Clock Tower, Dharmpur, Rajpur Road, Premnagar and other areas where traffic is either slowed down to a crawl or jammed due to rallies.
Additional director general of police (law and order) Ashok Kumar said that district police chiefs have been directed to take measures at their level to improve traffic system in their district. In Dehradun, traffic jams are being witnessed on almost daily basis. Religious processions are being held periodically which are passing through various main roads and intersections of the city. Dehradun being state capital, protests and rallies of various organisations including political parties are being held from time to time and protesters are too using main roads and intersections during protest. He said that in view of this, Dehradun police chief has been directed to ensure that religious processions and protest rallies are not allowed on main roads and intersections. Action should be taken against members of those organisations who are violating the laws. District traffic police should divert the routes of procession or protest from main roads or intersections; restrict them on particular roads; limit the time of procession or protest so that it could have least impact on traffic jams among others, he added. Critics opined that earlier, Traffic Directorate in-charge DIG Kewal Khurana had directed the Dehradun SSP to ensure that no rallies are allow near clock tower. However, administration has failed to implement this order as several rallies have been seen passing through Clock Tower area since the earlier directive was issued.