Saturday, 16 April 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Despite the measures being taken by the authorities, the problem of traffic congestion appears to be worsening in the provisional state capital. With schools also reopening in the recent past, the buses, vans and other vehicles carrying the students are adding to the traffic woes in various parts of Dehradun city. People can be seen stuck in congestion at various parts of the city awaiting the traffic to clear.
This correspondent visited the already busy and important stretch from ISBT to Saharanpur Road and found that improper parking facilities, lack of traffic sense among the road users and lack of traffic management are exacerbating the traffic congestion problem here. Various schools and educational institutions are located on this stretch which lacks adequate parking facilities. Due to this, the parents of students and even faculty members park their vehicles on the roadsides which also fuels congestion.
After 12 PM when the schools are over for the day, people were seen stuck on the roads around the premises of a school causing roadblock leading to traffic jam on Saharanpur Road. People were trying to pass through the congestion while breaching traffic rules and even riding on footpaths while adding to the chaos. On Saharanpur Road, the situation worsened due to a number of school buses, vans and auto rickshaws lined up to carry students back home.
Daily travellers and auto rickshaw drivers both were annoyed while waiting for the congestion to thin out. An e-rickshaw driver Aslam Khan said, “In the afternoon when the school is over there are a lot of vehicles stuck here. The traffic police don’t actually help to clear the road,” he added.
A citizen stuck in the traffic, Dharmendra Sharma opined,”We try to avoid travelling at this particular time considering the number of vehicles which get stuck here.”
A school van driver Raghuraj said, “Because of the traffic these days we are late by 25-30 minutes in reaching our destination. There are a lot of school buses, vans, and autos on the road and few of them don’t follow traffic rules. That is why traffic jams happen,” he opined.
