Traffic mess near schools back to haunt commuters

Bhubaneswar: Commuters are again facing a harrowing time due to choked roads and lanes near schools in the city as parents come to pick up and drop children. Traffic congestion in front of schools is causing severe inconvenience not only for motorists and pedestrians but also pose a risk to school children and teachers, they said.
People getting stuck in jams have urged deployment of traffic personnel in front of schools before and after classes to manage the huge rush of vehicles.
“You must blame your stars if you get stuck in the traffic gridlock in front of schools before and after classes. It takes not less than 30 minutes to cross a 500-metre stretch on the Ram Mandir side road,” said Harshit Panda, a marketing executive.
Anwesha Das, an engineering student, said she got delayed by 15 minutes for an exam at her college due to traffic jam in front of a school. “It was a helpless situation as I got stuck in a traffic jam and got late for my exam. There was a long queue of vehicles on Nandankanan Road in front of Janata Maidan and the traffic was not moving at all. Traffic police must look into this problem seriously,” she said.
Besides, parking of vehicles of parents, school vans and autorickshaws that come to pick up and drop children on both sides of the road are also worsening the traffic bottlenecks. “There is no one to control traffic near schools and for those students who walk or cycle to school, it is not even possible to cross the road. There is always a crowd at the school gate and vehicles all around,” said Rahul Swain, a Class VIII student at St Xavier International School in Patia.
Parents said most schools don’t have adequate school vehicles to pick up and drop children. “Private vans carrying children to school are overcrowded and the autorickshaws are very unsafe. Besides, in scorching heat or during rainy days, we are forced to bring our cars to pick and drop kids in schools. It will lead to traffic jams,” said Priti Sinha, a parent.
Police said earlier they used to assign one or two persons at major traffic jams and that schools remained closed for the last two years due to Covid. But after reopening of schools, the traffic problem is back again.
“We had asked the private schools to ensure that there is no traffic jam during school hours. We will discuss the matter with schools and come out with a solution,” said Swastik Panda, ACP (traffic), Bhubaneswar.