Thursday, 09 December 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Though the routes were diverted on the first day of the Vidhan Sabha session on Thursday, people opined that the traffic jam was not as severe as they have become accustomed to over the years during every assembly session. Since most of the political parties, unions and protesters had already cancelled their rallies and protest marches to the Vidhan Sabha building due to the recent demise of Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, the authorities did not have to restrict traffic movement on most of the roads. The traffic on some routes increased during the morning but there was only a slight increase in the traffic throughout the day than usual days.
Sahastradhara Road resident Keshav Rawat said, “I headed out of my house 30 minutes before my usual timing in the morning to avoid traffic congestion on Fountain Chowk and near Rispana bridge as I always get at least 20 to 30 minutes late due to such route diversions. Surprisingly, the traffic was not as bad as I expected it to be on Thursday. It was certainly busier on the roads than usual but I was not stuck in traffic for hours on different routes.” Another local resident Saurabh Chauhan said that the traffic on the way to his shop in Paltan Bazaar from Haridwar Road was like the usual days in the afternoon. “I expected to reach late due to route diversions but it took me the same time to reach my shop. We generally remain busy honking due to rallies and protests during assembly sessions but since there were no protests on routes, there was no barrier on roads,” said Chauhan. However, the locals also added that this scenario will change when the Vidhan Sabha session starts in full swing from Friday. “The traffic condition was better on the first day because there were no rallies on the roads. There will be long traffic jams from Friday onwards that has become a regular thing during every assembly session. I hope the authorities have made adequate arrangements to ensure smooth flow of traffic this time to make the public suffer less,” said senior citizen, Hari Singh Jeena.
