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

Suspend licences of offenders

Various predicaments can be seen which are responsible for the bad condition of the city traffic especially on the peak days of any festival. Numerous steps can be taken to ameliorate the problem. First of all, heavy penalty should be charged for parking vehicles on the wrong side of the road. Secondly, temporary encroachments not only block the way but also present unorganised look. It should be removed by educating people about such things by conducting seminars on it or by placing caution signs on such areas. Thirdly, illegal cuts on roads are major cause behind traffic congestion. Traffic police should close these cuts permanently for smooth driving. Lastly, as Diwali is one of the biggest and famous seasons of the year people are very eager to celebrate it. Sometimes, they drive on the wrong side in their eagerness. On such occasions, their driving licence could be cancelled for a short time span as a form of punishment. To conclude, India is a land of festivals. People are very excited to celebrate all festivals with great enthusiasm. It should be the duty of the governmental authorities to solve traffic congestion so that all the people of the city could be able to enjoy and make all the festivals memorable.

Harsimrat Kaur

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Use drones for surveillance

It’s not only during the festive season that the city roads are chock-a-block with the traffic. Even during the normal days, traffic jams are a regular sight. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Let each one of us make a resolve to follow the traffic rules. Unscrupulous shopkeepers and hawkers who pitch up shamiyanas or plonk their cart on the roads must be penalised heavily. The hawkers could be accommodated in a separately nominated ground with basic amenities to do their business. During the festive season, the alcohol and sweets shops are the most crowded. The CCTV cameras/drones must be used to carry out an intensive surveillance and thereafter nab the offenders.

Col VK Sharma

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Form local citizen panel to end mess

To solve the traffic problem in the city, the priority list of the Local Bodies Department should be reversed. At present, on top of their priority list is beautification of the city involving crores of rupees and maintenance of roads and filling of potholes with little money comes at the bottom level of the said list. Just see all bridges, including elevated road and Court Road Bridge, are decorated with coloured lights and beneath with full darkness road accident occurs in routine. Big establishments such as hotels, hospitals and commercial houses get their ground plans passed from local authorities with proper parking space in the premises but in reality they use the same for some other purpose therefore allowing illegal parking on the roadside. In the same way, the Local Bodies Department does compel the vendors to comply with the anti-encroachment rules but spare the retailers from such rules. The only solution to the problem is to formation of a local citizen committee without any bureaucrat or politician as its member to monitor the implementation of the local bodies rules and regulation in this regard.

Harsh Johar

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Carpooling can be a viable option

Many parts of the holy city are plagued by traffic congestion. Too many vehicles on the roads, encroachments, accidents, religious processions, political rallies, wrong parking of vehicles, illicit cuts on roads and wrong-side driving are the main causes of traffic congestion on the city roads. Traffic congestion is economically regressive, environmentally hazardous and psychologically traumatic. So, urgent steps are needed to be taken to reduce congestion as far as possible during the current festive season. To begin with, encroachments of all types must be removed without any discrimination. Wherever possible service lanes should be made functional. Entry of heavy vehicles should be restricted during the peak traffic hours. Adequate parking lots ought to be provided away from the city centre. The traffic police must issue advisory on TV and FM radio frequently. Besides, public and private transport should be streamlined. However, no measures to tackle the cryptic problem will be suffice and effective without the wholehearted cooperation of the general public. The people should make use of the public transport rather than their own vehicles to lessen the impact of traffic congestion. Carpooling is another option to reduce people’s contribution to the road congestion. People should make good use of bicycles instead of motor vehicles. More traffic police personnel should be deputed at various points on the city roads. Above all, the administration should create awareness among the commuters regarding traffic light rules and respect the lanes earmarked for them. No wrong parking should be allowed at any cost. Vehicles parked at no parking areas should be towed away honestly by the cops on duty. Moveable, temporary barriers should be erected on the roads to change vehicle lanes as and when required particularly during the festival season. Additionally, unified and smart traffic management systems should be brought into play to overcome the problem. Automated speed enforcement cameras should be installed at all the prominent points of the roads to rein in the reckless driving and drivers.

Tarsem S Bumrah

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Complete pending projects first

Though in general traffic problem in the city is a big issue and government on its part has taken many steps to solve it, such steps are on papers only. Just to quote an example about three years ago government approved a proposal to make multilevel automatic parking lot at Kairon Market, Hall Bazaar. The project was assigned to Amritsar Smart City Ltd. headed by an IAS officer. But even after three years the project is at tendering stage. Though the department concerned has floated the tender nine times with numerous corrigenda, the same has not been finalised yet. If the project is completed this would solve the parking problem Hall Bazaar, Kate’s Sher Singh, Shastri Market and adjoins areas thus giving space to smooth flow of traffic. Similarly, ROB on the Bhandari Bridge has missed many dates of completion thus creating lot of traffic jams on the only way to connect old city to the civil line area. So, the solution to the problem squarely lies with the government departments.

Nityanshi Chopra

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Curb Illegal parking of vehicles in city

The great hindrance to solve the traffic congestion in the city is wrong parking. Here I wish to quote that people of Amritsar are proud of the fact that country’s first pilot project of parking sensors to curb illegal parking was started in the holy city. But its failure is equally shameful for the authorities concerned. Under the Smart City project, four parking sensors were installed at Novelty Chowk, Mall Road by Amritsar Smart City Ltd. to control the illegal parking in the area. Such sensors were supposed to flash a text message on the cell of the traffic police cops to check the illegal parking. But how this project failed is a great mystery yet to be solved. Now, the question arises why to install such sensors at Novelty Chowk where 24x7 traffic cops are on duty? This problem is in existence due to a nexus among businessmen, politicians and police. Illegal parking is a great hindrance in the smooth traffic flow in the city but this will continue till the above quoted nexus exists.

Naresh Johar

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MC, police should join hands to ease traffic

Wrong parking of vehicles, temporary encroachments, illegal cuts on roads and wrong-side driving are the most ubiquitous civic issues that the city confronts throughout the year, more so during the festive season when the customer footfall in the already busy marketplaces of the city witnesses a manifold increase. Moving around the marketplaces without bumping into other shoppers, often results in unsavory experiences for most people as do road accidents caused by these problems. Besides removing the encroachments and illegal cuts along the roads, the Municipal Corporation and the traffic police should launch joint campaigns to ‘challan’ encroachers so that they do not return to places from where they were removed, while also ensuring that the illegally parked vehicles are towed away from these markets. The traffic police should ensure that violators of traffic rules are duly fined.

Shaheen P Parshad

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Cover entire city with CCTV cameras

CCTV cameras must be installed at all locations so that the whole city can be mapped. Any person who breaks the traffic rules must be issued the challan online which can be sent to him/her along with the video clip as proof of the wrongdoing. It has become a common practice for many people to drive on the wrong side of the road just to save some distance. It is very deadly as they pose a very serious threat to other people along with themselves and they must be penalized heavily by the authorities. Traffic lights at many crossroads are dysfunctional, which must be repaired at the earliest for smooth traffic flow.

Jatinderpal Singh Batth

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Amritsar lacks traffic culture

The chaotic status of the traffic in the city is not an overnight development nor it is totally irremediable as such. I remember the times in 1940s, when Hall Bazaar had two-way traffic. But that was a period when ‘keep to the left’ was the tradition and everyone followed it as the rule of the road. Then came freedom, independence and development, and with it politics and corruption. Amritsar roads cannot sustain day time parking of cars inside the walled town. It occupies road space, slows movement, wastes time and guarantees pollution, traffic snarls, over-dented shields and bruised egos. Temporary encroachment is only a euphemism for ‘paid underhand’ occupation of road space. Truly speaking, the city has no traffic culture at all. In 1984, when the city remained under the Army control for some time, they disallowed parking of all four wheelers, including their own, in Hall Bazaar. Even nowadays, when any VVIP is expected, everything is set in order, but after they leave it is back to chaos. As long as shopkeepers enjoy the right to park their vehicles in front of their shops, no space will be left for clients. I think parking of four-wheelers in the walled city should be curbed. Besides, slow traffic should be regulated. The state of smoothness and streamlining of the traffic of a place is a statement on its overall well being. Amritsar deserves a quiet and tension free movement.

Mohan Singh

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Make separate lane for auto-rickshaws

Residents are facing worst-traffic scenario due to frequent traffic snarls leading to congestion on roads resulting in loss of time, wastage of fuel and pollution. The day is not far when Amritsar would be better known as city of traffic snarls. The administration should take immediate remedial steps to mitigate the suffering of commuters such as replace small roundabout with large ones, introduce more one-way traffic lanes, remove encroachments, earmark tow away zones and build more parking spaces. Congestion tax should be introduced to discourage ownership of more vehicle than required as per land area permits. Separate auto-rickshaw lane on major busy roads is needed to ease flow of vehicles. Students can be enrolled as ‘traffic mitra’ and services can be availed during festive season and peak rush hours. Use drones for quick solution to emerging site of vehicular congestion. Plug numerous exit points along double-lane roads that hinder smooth flow of traffic and cause accidents. The steps warranted an immediate task in hand to end long traffic snarled-up holding the holy city to a chaotic traffic scenario.

Anil Vinayak

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BRTS biggest reason for traffic snarls

If a single cause of traffic problem is to be pointed out, it’s the setting up of BRTS in the city. It has not only destroyed the greenery, the hallmark of the city, but it has choked the arteries of the major traffic zone, by claiming major portion of the roads. Not only it has destroyed the basic character of the city, it has not become the preferred passenger transport of the citizens. The rush on city buses was visible only when the travel on city buses was free. Sooner the project is shelved and its portion is again added up in the side roads, better it would be. Another big traffic snarl lies in the use of mobile phone and its accessories while driving, by more than 90% population. Earlier drunken driving used to be most dreaded traffic offence, but the mobile phone has now taken over as biggest road crime from drunken driving. The hand-pulled carts on the roadsides and encroachments thereon are the lesser evils. These civic offences are committed by the people with the patronage of politicians and corrupt officials and this permanent scar will continue with its resultant miseries for the masses. Ranjit Avenue is one of the best areas, but all its footpaths have been encroached upon by the fruit and vegetable sellers. The site plans of the big malls and shopping areas are passed without considering the sufficiency of the parking areas. As a result, the countless vehicles are parked on the roads and footpaths. Pedestrian has no right to walk along major city roads as no space is available for them. Getting a driving license is tedious task for a layman. In such a dismal situation, when the governance has been in tatters for decades and there is no hope of its improvement in the foreseeable future.

Hardish Sandhu

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Citizens should look within

For traffic chaos, we should not always raise fingers on the officials as most of us have forgotten even basic sense. It is us who park our vehicles where we shouldn’t. It is again us who decide to drive on the wrong side and so much more which creates utter mess on the roads besides making roads unsafe. Of course, during every festival, the situation becomes graver. The only solution is heavy penalties, which should be revised to set fear in the minds of public as several countries in the west have done. Else, rules will continue to be flouted. Special teams should be formed for the same. Suggestions can also be taken from other cities which have done well in traffic management. I also feel that educational institutions can play a big role by hosting special seminars to direct young minds in the right direction. They should invite traffic police officials and maybe even psychologists. After all, our minds need help. We need to connect with our civic sense. And again, the citizens should look within themselves to keep our roads and public places safe and in order. This will be very supportive for the local administration too and we will eventually end up helping ourselves.

Rameshinder Singh Sandhu

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Impose heavy fine on violators

• Amritsar is engulfed with problem of traffic chaos for the past many years. All vehicle drivers are driving rashly on roads. Wrong-side driving has often resulted in accidents. Road blockades by protesters has further aggravated the problem resulting in traffic jams for long hours.
• To solve traffic congestion on city roads, the administration should take strict action against defaulters of traffic rules not only by imposing heavy fines but imprisonment between 6 months to 1 year. It will act as a deterrent for traffic rule violators.
• Secondly, one-way movement of traffic should be encouraged on maximum roads so that there is least traffic congestion. Thirdly, roads should be made wider wherever possible so that rush of vehicles on roads can pass on in least minimum possible time.
• Last, but not the least, the most effective step will be to deploy the traffic police in all parts of the city to regulate and manage traffic. Sanjay Chawla

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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 amritsardesk@tribunemail.com by Thursday (November 4)