Thousands of devotees heading towards Kedarnath remained stranded for hours in jam near Sitapur, around 4 km from Gaurikund, caused by rain debris on the route on Friday. The jam led to long trail of vehicles, causing serious inconvenience to the devotees whose schedule delayed by hours.
Traffic movement was restored after four hours only after serious efforts by the police personnel to ensure normalcy of traffic movement. The administrative officials blamed narrow roads for the problem that has become a routine affair since the Yatra started.
Dr Ajay Shukla, one of the devotees who had a harrowing time in the jam, said, “We have been caught in traffic jam for the last four hours. Vehicular traffic came to a standstill. Vehicles are literally moving at snail’s pace. If the situation prevails, it would take around four hours more to reach Gaurikund.”
Shukla said that only two police personnel were handling such a huge crowd of vehicles. “Some more police personnel should be deployed at the points on the route where jams are a regular occurrence. Ironically, there is no such arrangement,” Shukla said.
Shivangi, another devotee, also echoed same feelings. Her schedule was also delayed. “Traffic jam is literally a major problem. It has caused a lot of inconvenience to us. We have to delay our programme by a day due to it,” she said.
Other devotees reacted in a similar way. However, police administration claimed that they were on their toes to maintain traffic movement. Police personnel have been deployed at the narrow point of the road. The police personnel are playing a very important role.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dy SP) Rudraprayag said that road was extremely narrow at several points. At the most important point, two constables equipped with wireless sets have been deployed on either side of the narrow road. They handle the traffic.
He further claimed that the road was so narrow that one way traffic arrangement has been put in place in order to avoid the traffic jam. As a large number of vehicles are pouring in, trail of vehicles gather on either ends. It often causes a scene of traffic jam. The cops are taking all efforts to ensure proper movement of the vehicles.
Dimri blamed the narrow roads for the problem. Instead of blaming the police, there should be efforts to widen the road. A senior official, who didn’t want to be quoted, said that root of the traffic jam stretched out to the narrow road. The agency responsible for widening it should start work for the same.
Moreover, officer-in-command, BCC of Border Road Organisation at Rudraprayag Manoj Singh held lack of funds responsible for the problem. “See, the agency lacks fund. With the funds available with it, the agency is trying to maintain the road. For widening of the route, there would be requirement of more funds,” he said.
He said that the BRO tried its best to repair the road with the available funds before starting of the Yatra. For extensive repairing, there was requirement of more funds. He also claimed that efforts were on to maintain the road.