Protests carried out by various political and other organisations in support of their respective demands, the traffic system in the city was thrown out of gear on Monday. This, despite Dehradun police having taken ample measures to resolve the traffic congestion in the city with the agitations lined up for the day. Along with policemen, NCC cadets were also engaged in resolving traffic at various crossings across the city, but apparently to little avail.
Things were indeed tough with activist of various organisations having taken to the roads across the city to vent their grievances and to demand their prompt redressal.
Aside from the stir staged under the aegis of Uttarakhand Panchayat Sangathan, demanding the Centre to rescind its act of slashing budget for the two of the three rural representative institutions, the ruling State Congress took to the roads to protest against the Centre’s alleged anti-people policies and the State BJP leaders’ alleged attempt to smear the image of the party-led State government with trumped -up scams. The Centre was burnt in its effigy at Tehsil Chowk. Scores of Mahanagar Mahila Congress members also protested at Gandhi Park while protesting against the Centre failing to rein in on the price rise of essential commodities.
The commuters faced long spells of traffic snarls with the agitators snaking their ways through the main thoroughfares of the city. Things worsened as some schools reopened on Monday after the winter vacation was over. The students suffered the ordeal too. 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 during noon and in the evening hours.
Police personnel though deployed at each of the important intersections looked more engaged in keeping law and order rather than unclogging the traffic pileup. 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.
The ordeal on the road extended to the evening hours too as the buses were over-crowded and they ran much later than scheduled, given the massive jams. Vikrams changing routes landed the commuters in trouble too. “We are waiting for hours to catch either an auto or a bus. Both are elusive till now. We would be terribly late to reach home,” said a visibly annoyed working woman, found standing at a bus/auto stop on Rajpur Road.
Sohan Bisth, resident of Kewal Vihar, said that traffic jams have become normal phenomenon in the city. “Protests being carried out by various organisations almost daily are adding to our ordeal. Besides, footpaths being encroached upon by the locals, things are messy for us,” he said.