People thronging various markets across Dehradun on the occasion of Dhanteras triggered severe traffic congestion at various crossings in the city on Monday.
Traffic system, especially around the market areas, was thrown out of gear despite Dehradun police claiming to have drafted a traffic plan to resolve the traffic congestion in the city. Seeing things going from bad to worse, Dehradun SSP Dr Sadanand Date and SP City Ajay Singh came out on the roads themselves to man traffic at Clock Tower. They directed the policemen to ensure smooth traffic flow in the city.
Vehicles moved at a snail’s pace with public transports taking over an hour more to reach their destinations. long queues of vehicles were seen stuck up at various crossings in the city, especially at noon and in the evening hours when large number of people came out for shopping in the markets.
Police personnel were deputed at each of the important crossings. But they looked more engaged in keeping order rather than unclogging the traffic snarl. Vehicles were found stuck up at Clock Tower, Survey Chowk, Dilaram Chowk, Doon Hospital, Darshan lal Chowk, Prince Chowk, Bindal, Clock Tower, Rispana, Saharanpur Chowk, Prince Chowk, Patelnagar Chowk and ISBT across the city.
Date said that to regulate the traffic during Diwali festival, one -way traffic plan was enforced at places like lakkhi Bagh, Tehsil Chowk—Paltan Bazar and Dispensary Road— Tehsil Chowk. The routes of Vikrams plying along several routes have been changed too.
However, during the evening hours, shoppers were inconvenienced as the over-crowded buses ran much late while negotiating the snarl. Some were in difficulty due to change of the Vikram routes. Some had to wait for a long time to catch auto or buses to reach destinations.
Sohan Uniyal, resident of Kewal Vihar, said that roads were jammed at some places because the footpaths being encroached upon by the locals.
Anuradha, resident of Vikaslok , said that it has become normal phenomena for city residents to face traffic jams on the roads. “Despite the district police going for experiments by changing routes to resolve the traffic snarl, things remain the same for us,” she said.
Ramesh Bisht, resident of Raipur, said that city having limited roads and resources, the district police have not much of options except to enforce the traffic rules strictly.