Saturday, 27 APRIL 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Considering severe traffic jams on Char Dham routes every year, the police have sent a proposal to the State government to address the issue. The police have asked for road widening and construction of a bypass among other suggestions to streamline traffic, the inspector general of police of Garhwal range Karan Singh Nagnyal said. Talking about the causes of traffic jams on Char Dham routes, he told The Pioneer that severe traffic jams occur on a single route stretch from Shyampur railway crossing to Nepali Farm in Rishikesh. It is because commuters arrive there from a four-lane road which causes traffic congestion near the railway crossing. About 25 trains pass through the crossing every day so by the time traffic resumes for a few minutes, another train passes through there. Due to the high numbers of vehicles on a narrow route, it takes considerable time to streamline traffic there. The stretch of about one kilometre between Shyampur and Nepali Farm is a one-way route. These traffic issues can be tackled only with the widening of the one-way route and railway crossing. Besides this, Nagnyal said, a stretch is obstructed at Totaghati near the Badrinath route due to a severe landslide that occurred about two years ago. Nagnyal said that the police have sent a proposal regarding these issues to the State government. The approval and further proceedings are expected to take a considerable time and till then, the police are making all the possible arrangements. He said that the heavy crowd in the main market area of Tapovan in Rishikesh is another reason for traffic jam. The shops are removed from there during Char Dham Yatra but congestion is still faced due to improper parking issues and people shopping there. Besides this, over one thousand rafts are placed near main roads in Rishikesh and nearby areas that hinder traffic. Nagnyal said that hundreds of people come for rafting during the tourist season in summer. The visitors also form queues or stand in groups near the main roads to wait for their turn. This also causes traffic jams. The local police have been directed to communicate this issue with the people concerned to ensure rafts and people waiting for their turn to raft do not cause a traffic jam. The IG said that he also conducted workshops recently with the representatives of bodies representing auto rickshaws, taxis, rickshaw pullers and Dharamshalas in Rishikesh to ensure proper management during Char Dham Yatra. Besides this, traffic jams caused due to landslides and similar incidents will be tackled by the police as per the standard guidelines for Char Dham Yatra. On the question of how many police personnel will be sent for duty in other states for Lok Sabha elections and how it will affect police arrangements for Char Dham Yatra, Nagnyal said “We have not received any demand from the Centre so far. However, the personnel from other districts will be deployed in the Garhwal range as per the requirement if personnel are sent for election duty.”
