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| Jammu a choked city with choked roads | | | Gareeb Dass
Jammu | July 16
If you wish to experience for yourself what chaos means you better drive your car or a two wheeler from Asia hotel crossing to the warehouse.You will be able to drive your car at such a pace that it may take you 30 to 40 minutes for covering a distance of 500 metres from Asia hotel and the Bikram chowk..Beware,never try to drive through the warehouse without having insured your car because day to day reports indicate that six to eight cars get hit per month inside the warehouse.
Early Times team spent about two hours watching cars,trucks,horsedriven carts,two and three-wheelers getting stuck in traffic jams.They move at a snail's pace,get stuck again.Imagine the height of chaos when huge trucks block the roads while negotiating the curves from inside the yards to be on the main road.Invariably passersby or cleaners or drivers manage to regulate the flow of vehicular traffic.It is not an easy job because trucks carrying goods unload by the side of the main road passing through the warehouse with the result major hurdles are created in the flow of traffic.Not a single traffic personnel could be seen inside the warehouse trying to regulate the traffic.Yes there are more than five traffic cops who manage the traffic beat near the Bikram Chowk entry.They have nothing to regulate simply to keep a track of those who try to violate traffic rules which could ensure monetary benefits for them.And if it is midday these traffic cops are seen enjoying their Pakoras,tea,Rajmash Chawal in the wayside shanty eating shops.They remain unperturbed if the movement of vehicular traffic gets suspended owing to jams for over an hour.However,it was an interesting experience when I sought help from a traffic cop as my cell phone developed some fault.He readily dialled the number I had asked and allowed me to talk to a person whose help I needed.Thanks to him for showing a human face in inhuman environment.
The road passing through the warehouse is wide enough to sustain three lane traffc but it stands choked with goods,including bags of rice,wheat,tins of edible oil and huge packets of other consumer items,having been stored on the edge of the road on both sides.There are no set rules for loading and unloading.Hence there is no provision for violating those rules.Trucks,loaded with bags of various consumer items,are driven to the warehouse yards where there is no limit for the cooling period.Truck drivers come and can park their vehicles for hours and for a couple of days inside the yards.The dealers take their time in unloading the goods.They are not in a hurry.They simply keep on piling bags of various consumer items.In several yards our news team found the piles of bags touching the sky.You cannot drive yor car inside the yards if you have to buy a bag of wheat atta or rice or edible oil tins.You can buy it and have to engage a coolie for carrying the items to you car parked a few metres away from the yard.
Car drivers usually are scared of the neighing horses driving the carts.Often these horses run amuck causing losses to car owners.Dealers too seem to be unperturbed over the regular trafic chaos because they know that the buyers have to purchase items from them. In fact the entire Jammu city needs a master plan for a planned development and growth.This is needed when more than 10,000 vehicles are added to the existing fleet of cars,buses,matadors and trucks besides two and three-wheelers in the city every year.It is required when new shopping centres are coming up in areas already known for congestion.It is a city of traffic choas.If you do not believe me visit the Kanak Mandi.More than 60 per cent of the road between Shalimar Chowk and the Shahidi Chowk is choked with carts,cars,three-wheelers and trucks.Here also there is no traffic cop deployed for regulating vehicular traffic.If some international or national agency keeps an award for choked city with choked roads Jammu will definitely win the first prize. |
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