Jaipur: A 39-year-old CISF inspector lay dying in his overturned car at Kumbha Marg in Pratap Nagar on the freezing night of December 28. Before pedestrians could call the ambulance, Amari Singh Gujar died. His car was hit by a truck which took a U-turn at the spot at full speed.
Mishaps like these are common at Kumbha Marg which is among the top blind spots in the city. The stretch between Haldi Ghati and Kumbha Marg reported three deaths in 2017, not to mention a dozen cases of people being injured in accidents.
Even for skilled motorists, a drive from Haldi Ghati to Kumbha Marg can be an extremely daunting task. Vehicles zoom past red lights and encroachments on either side of the road leave little space for vehicles and cause traffic congestion.
"Kumbha Marg crossing is peculiar in many ways. For instance, one part of the crossing has a highway merging ahead with a road which leads to a residential colony. You can find tractors, trucks, SUVs, buses and even JCB machines, all going together on this stretch," said Aryan Sharma, a resident of Kumbha Marg.
The damaged dividers and battered railings here are testimony to how often speeding vehicles have had a brush with fatal accidents. "No one is willing to obey the traffic lights here. Buses speed through approach roads to avoid traffic signals on the main road. It is at these approach roads where most accidents occur," said Hanuman Jangid, manager of a restaurant.
On February 14, two people died after their car rammed into a bus near Kumbha Marg gate. The car's driver, Devilal (25), and another passenger, Sita Devi (65), were killed on the spot. Three others sustained severe injuries in the crash.
Repeated accidents and unmanageable traffic issues lay bare the city's unplanned growth. While the number of vehicles on city roads has soared, the existing infrastructure is no longer adequate for so many vehicles.
In 2006-07, the city registered as many as 11,76,754 new vehicles, the figure reached 20,38,565 in 2012-13. The number of vehicles registered in 2015-16 reached at 24,23,648. Even, according to officials, the current infrastructure is not enough to manage so many vehicles.
"We have recommended some alternative ways to manage traffic. The area is high on our priority too, but we also have to ensure that there is enough space for more vehicles," an official said.
Till 15 years ago, Sanganer and Pratap Nagar seemed like dusty outposts of a growing Jaipur city. "The property prices here began to soar from 2006, as other localities in the heart of the city became crowded, new residential colony cropped up here," said Aushutosh Mittal, a property dealer.
