| City's bus stops brazenly encroached, no one concerned | | |  Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 28: While it is fashionable to accuse the traffic cops on road for every traffic violation, the fact of the matter is that all that is not well on the city roads is largely because of poor road engineering.
Despite geometric increase in vehicular population in Jammu, the road infrastructure has not been revamped in proportion to it, which is the fundamental cause of messy city traffic in Jammu as well as Srinagar, the two capital cities of the state. There are no subways, almost no over-bridges, no lanes for slow traffic, no signs and markings on roads and no bus stops, which are the cause of complete anarchy on roads.
Mini buses, which many believe have unleashed a reign of terror on city roads are largely accused for pick and drop at will, in the middle of the road, but there has been little effort to address lack of bus stops along the main arteries. "There are a few bus stops of the main roads of the city, but most of them have been encroached and our duty is to regulate traffic, not clear them of encroachments" said traffic cop when asked why they did not insist that mini buses stopped in the designated stops only.
Few of these bus stops have turned into illegal auto stands, while others have been encroached by vegetable and fruit vendors, a few have turned into night shelters for the beggars and lepers and the left have even tuned into public conveniences.
Major blame of rendering these bus stops defunct and irrelevant lies on the commuters as well, who barge into the middle of the busy squares rather than waiting in these waiting sheds. "You can see long queues on mini buses waiting for passengers while these bus stops remain secluded" said Sushil Gupta, a shopkeeper in Jewel Chowk area.
In the backdrop of the urban agencies engaging RITES to design long term mobility plans for capital cities, there is probability of these bus stops becoming relevant again, but the commuters need to be sensitized for the same. |
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