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| Darbar’s drubbing sets commuters scurrying | | | MUNISH GUPTA | 11/20/2009 12:09:00 AM |
| JAMMU, Nov 19:
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has, indeed, been repeatedly assuring people of zero disruption to vehicular movement because of his rides around the City. Yet his security managers are least bothered to keep their boss’ words. They often go berserk while stopping the traffic to ensure smooth ride for Abdullah. The Darbar move has brought frequent traffic chaos, bottlenecks snarls to the city.
The security and movement managers of Chief Minister are least bothered about anybody else than the top boss of the State. They recently asked a premier public school of
the city to delay the departure of school buses to give free mobility to Chief Minister.
This is in utter contrast to the fact that soon after becoming Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah had passed instructions to his security staff not to disrupt flow of vehicular traffic especially when he is moving from one place to another in the city.
Yet none in the security ring of the Chief Minister paid any heed to the clear-cut instruction. This has brought not only hardship but has also been causing humiliating delay for ordinary commuters in case they happen to travel or drive through crossing the path with Chief Minister’s convoy.The worst fallout of what security higher ups call taking due precautions in the wake of security risks faced by the big boss is that the schools in old city area are often told to change timings of departure of the students for the sake of safe and easy movement of the Chief Minister. This is more so when Chief Minister is scheduled to visit the officialresidence on Wazarat Road during the afternoon. The heads of the educational institutions are ‘ordered’ to either delay the departure of school buses or send students home before the school hours are up to ensure uninterrup ted movement of the Chief Minister’s cavalcade.
For last one-week or so the authorities of a high profile private school near Shahidi Chowk have been directed by the Chief Minister’s security sleuths to divert the movement of school buses for ’sometime’ in view of VVIP movement in the area.
Such orders are generally followed in letter and spirit on the busy road to avoid traffic jams on the congested roads for the sake of the top functionary of the State. The school authorities were directed to wind up the class work ahead of school time and pack the students in buses 30, minutes in advance on Thursday.
As per the school timetable the classes are over at 14.10 hrs and students report inside the buses by 14.20 hrs so as buses can leave the school campus by 14.30 hrs for their different destinations. But on Thursday the students boarded their buses at 13.45 hrs little knowing that the buses would be left stranded on the link road connecting the school with the residency road in the wake of VVIP movement in the area around the same time.
Not just this large number of parents who visit the school to bring their children home also face the fury of traffic police authorities who stop vehicular traffic to allow movement of VVIP cavalcade. Not only the movement of Chief Minister but the opening of the Darbar too made commoners miserable. Daily commuters, including school going
children and senior citizens, are now forced to take longer routes to
reach Kachchi Chhawni and Shalamar Road.
An officer in the security wing of the police admitted that there had never been a single militant attack on the Civil Secretariat Complex in Jammu, but owing to security reasons the road near it upto over 200 metres or so become out of bounds for the common people.
Asked could this be done near Civil Secretariat Complex in Srinagar too, he said despite militants' attack in the past at Srinagar Secretariat, road outside it has never been closed to bar the movement of the common people even when Darbar moves is on there.
For the next six months till Darbar moves its offices back to Srinagar again, the road would remain besieged by the security forces allowing only movements of officials employees of the civil secretariat besides visitors with passes and politicians.
Miffed by the restrictions, a group of students from SRML Higher Secondary School said, “We requested security staff deputed at the road to give us passage so as to reach our school but they simply turned away their face, forcing us to take longer route via Parade Ground.”A man in his seventies70s, walking with stick in his hands virtually begged before the security personnel at the barricade on Shalamar side for permission to go to other side. After he convinced security in-charge at the barricade of being an arthritis patient who could hardly walk, the former had a change of heart. Yet before allowing the old man to walk over to the other side, he reminded the staggering old man not to commit the mistake again for the next six months.However, an ailing woman in her 40s, who had to go to Government Medical College, was not as lucky as her repeated requests failed to convince the security personnel. She was even ready for the frisking by women cops but her requests fell on deaf ears.A traffic police officer felt that closing the road for common people puts extra burden on already choked Parade Ground where big traffic snarls have become a routine affair.
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