Open House: What steps should be taken to solve the problem of traffic congestion on Jalandhar city roads?

Avoid vehicles in crowded markets

Festive season has begun and roads are flooded with vehicles. Wrong parking of vehicles is a major cause of traffic congestion. Awareness campaigns should be organised to educate the people regarding traffic problems. Moreover, wrong-side driving is also a huge issue for city residents as the driver is putting his and others life in danger too. Common man should avoid taking vehicles to Rainik Bazaar, Sheikhan Bazaar and Gurh Mandi since these markets are very congested and person who will go to the market on his foot can easily roam here and there. People are stubborn and don’t pay heed to any good suggestion. In such a situation, the government should handle the situation with an iron hand and hefty fines should be imposed on those who violate the traffic rules.

Saahil Hans

Give boost to public transport system

If we are sincere towards traffic rules and park our vehicles at public parking the traffic problem will be solved to a great extent. Pedestrians face difficulty in walking on road as motorists park their vehicles as per their sweet will. Footpaths have been built by the Municipal Corporation for the pedestrians but are encroached by the shopkeepers and vendors. Due to lack of proper parking of vehicles traffic jams can be witnessed in the internal city, especially on Old GT Road. Moreover, the rise in vehicles owners and coming up of new colonies adjoining Model Town, the width of roads has narrowed. Similarly, the new PAP flyover mechanism has not yielded effective results as long queue of traffic can be witnessed at PAP Chowk and Rama Mandi Chowk. In my opinion, the administration should try to boost its own transport system in the internal city with more operations of battery-operated rickshaws and proper planning of vehicle parking at markets.

Rajat Kumar Mohindru

Advance planning need of the hour

One of the foremost duties of the administration is to take required safeguards to avoid public inconvenience. Due to the lack of proper infrastructure, a major problem that causes lot of trouble is poor hygiene and crowding on roads. During the festive occasions, the situation worsens in urban areas on account of erratic driving, haphazard parking of vehicles and encroachments. Owing to tardy and insufficient arrangements, severe congestion takes place on roads. To avoid the hardships, advance planning and few precautionary steps can be helpful in regulating smooth flow of traffic near the busy shopping centres. It will not only provide relief to the residents living in the adjoining localities but will substantially reduce irritation and wastage of time due to long traffic snarls also. Now, the festival of Diwali is approaching and all markets are abuzz with heavy rush. Every year, temporary encroachments before the shops for display of merchandise by the vendors present unruly sights and the roads leading to markets get fully choked. The administration must proactively make strenuous efforts to take necessary safeguards.

Nirmaljit Singh Chatrath

Earmark no-vehicle zones in city

The administration is solely responsible for prevalence of traffic chaos almost everywhere during any season of festivals. All traffic rules in general but parking rules in particular should be strictly enforced during the festival season. Markets which witness heavy footfall during the festival season should be identified to make them ‘one way traffic’ only. There is a severe crunch of parking places and advance measures should be urgently taken to enhance and augment the parking facilities, especially during festivals. The administration should earmark ‘no vehicle zones’ to facilitate smooth shopping by the pedestrians. The ill-conceived tendency of encroaching common spaces in the markets is common among the shopkeepers and same gets emboldened by the corrupt and inefficient officials who take no preventive action in hope of illegal gratification from them. There should be zero-tolerance against encroachment and illegal use of public places.

Jagdish Chander

Deploy more cops on crossings

Festival season is coming and shopkeepers have extended their shops on the government land, they have covered full open space meant for parking. It’s a normal practice every year. People love to break the laws and park their vehicles anywhere without bothering about the inconvenience caused to the general public. They park the scooters in the middle of the road and go for shopping. Illegal cuts have been made on the highways which increase chances of mishappening. Wrong side driving is a very familiar evil. It has become a habit to overtake from the wrong side. It’s a common reason of many accidents. All these are happening because of the careless attitude of the government. They never take timely action, no heavy penalty, no punishment, no action is taken. The government should deploy traffic police on crossings and install barriers to stop wrong side driving. Violators should be punished strictly. In the end, illegal cuts must be closed with immediate effect and save precious lives.

Shashi Kiran

Officials should work honestly

Though it’s festive season and shopping of different items such as crackers, clothes, sweets and gifts is the norm of the time. But it is also the problem of traffic hazards in the city. There is no attempt by the vehicle owners to park their vehicles in a proper and systematic way. Everyone wants to park the vehicles as per his or her own convenience regardless of the difficulty and trouble for the others. The police personnel also don’t care much about the violations of the traffic rules by the public. Many times such violators are let off without any challan. Many people drive their vehicles even when they are drunk. Many precious lives are lost in such careless driving. Similar, situation had occurred in the US in 1930s and maximum death rates were because of road accidents. The government implemented strict road driving laws and any violators were handed severe penalties. If the violations of the rules were repeated, his or her driving licence was cancelled permanently.

JS Wadhwa

Promote cycling, punish violators

India suffers the ignominy of being one of the worst congested countries in the world. Everywhere in the country, roads in cities and towns are choked with vehicular traffic. The congestion is primarily due to population explosion, economic prosperity, substantial increase in the demand and production of motorised vehicles, hand-pulled rickshaws, three-wheelers, bikes, unplanned urbanisation and disproportionate capacity of roads, encroachments, digging of roads, electricity poles and laying cable wires, wrong parking on roads etc. All big business houses should adopt Transport Demand Management (TDM) strategies for the purpose. The city authorities should create safe cycle lanes to promote cycle culture. In the wake of current festive season, the district civil and police administrations should discourage encroachments, demarcate car-free zones, enforce one-way traffic to check traffic jams and ensure hassle-free movement of commuters and pedestrians on crowded roads.

DS Kang

Spread awareness about road signs

Being the world’s most populous nation after China, India fares poorly on the global traffic congestion index. Snarled-up traffic is a common sight in all states across the country, including Punjab. The traffic police should spread awareness about road signs and markings and ensure strict enforcement of road rules and regulations. Launching car-free days, mending driving behaviour, fixing speed limits, restricting minors and those without licences to ply vehicles are some helpful measures.

Tajpreet S Kang

QUESTION

As dengue continues to spread its tentacles, it has started over-burdening the health infrastructure in the district. As a result, patients from not only other districts of Punjab, but from others states, too, have started arriving. How should the administration handle the current situation? Will it be wrong to say that we are heading towards another health emergency?

Suggestions in not more than 200 words can be sent to jalandhardesk@tribunemail.com by Thursday (November 4)