Traffic jam becoming an anathema for the residents of Dehradun, the people faced on- the- road ordeal again on Tuesday as the vehicles were found stuck bumper to bumper on the major thoroughfares of the city. The office goers and the students among others bore the brunt of the traffic mess with the traffic police cutting a sorry figure to clear the pileup.
Traffic congestion was huge, especially during the school-going time in the morning and things were the same when the schools closed for the day around noon. Vehicles moved at a snail’s pace and public transports took over an hour more to reach their destinations. long queue of vehicles were seen stuck up at various crossings in the city like Survey Chowk, Dilaram Chowk, Doon Hospital, Darshan lal Chowk, Haridwar Road, Prince Chowk, Bindal, Clock Tower, Rispana, Nehru Colony area, Balliwala, Ballupur, Saharanpur Chowk, Prince Chowk, Patelnagar Chowk and ISBT.
The market areas are buzzing with buyers because of the ongoing festive season. “But this is a known fact. Things happen this way every year. Police should have firmed up plans beforehand to keep things in order. But they lack the will,” said Ramesh Uniyal a local businessman.
“We are at the receiving end of the mess. Things are being aggravated with the festive season on as the people are coming out in large number to do shopping and the like,” said Mahendra Singh Bisht, a resident of Jogiwala.
Things have been the same over the past few days and they are unlikely to improve, given the inefficiency of the traffic police tasked to clear the congestion at the earliest.
“The situation improves when the higher-ups in the government and police take initiatives. But they go back to the square one once the pressure is gone. We have been facing it day in and day out stoically, convinced as we are that things would not improve permanently,” said Abhishek Rana, a Class XI student and resident of Kewal Vihar.
Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Sadanand Shankar Rao Date said that as of now there is no change in the traffic plan because of the festivities. “We are rather focusing on enforcement of the existing traffic rules in the city with the deployment of police forces at crossings and important places where there is a possibility of traffic congestions. Some more steps will be taken to streamline the traffic system in the city,” he said, adding that they had already banned entry of vehicles between 4 pm and 8 pm in Paltan Bazaar area. “We are conducting drives against those encroaching roads and footpaths in the Bazaar area, in particular and other parts of the state capital, in general,” he claimed.