Tuesday, 24 OCTOBER 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
People gave mixed reactions to the Dehradun police’s proposal to commence an odd-even system to regulate traffic on weekends. Some opined that this system can help in bringing down traffic congestion on roads besides the air pollution level while others stated that the authorities need to work on several other associated aspects like public transport and infrastructure before implementing this system. Homemaker Roshni Thapa said that the odd-even system will certainly help in reducing traffic congestion on roads during weekends as people shamelessly drive their cars even in narrow lanes inside marketplaces. “Go to Paltan Bazaar on the weekend and you will find several people in cars trying to make their way in narrow lanes. People are too lazy to park their vehicles nearby and walk within the marketplace. Even police are mostly unavailable in such lanes to ensure a smooth flow of traffic. The police should at least introduce this odd-even system in marketplaces if not in the entire city,” said Thapa. A senior citizen Kishan Singh Jeena said that though the odd-even system might cause some inconvenience initially, especially to those who do not have an alternative personal vehicle, people will eventually learn and adapt. “It will increase the use of public transport. People will probably resort to carpooling. Besides bringing down the traffic congestion on roads, the odd-even system will bring down the air pollution that has significantly increased in Dehradun,” he added. On the other hand, banker Bhawna Saini said that the authorities should focus on improving the infrastructure of roads, traffic lights and making the public transport system better before implementing such a system which will only cause inconvenience to locals in daily life. She said, “Not every person can go to the office or drop their children to school through a car one day and then by auto rickshaw the other day if they do not have other alternatives. Rather than improving the parking system and ensuring that people follow traffic rules, the police are expecting the people to change their lifestyles. Will the authorities ensure the government officials follow this odd-even system too? I highly doubt it. This system cannot be implemented successfully in Dehradun considering the outcomes of police’s past plans here to curb traffic congestion.” Activist and founder of Dehradun-based Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation Anoop Nautiyal said that he conducted a poll on X (earlier known as Twitter) at about 9 PM on Sunday after the senior superintendent of police Ajai Singh interacted with citizens via Facebook Live to get their feedback on the odd-even system proposal. He said that the poll received 175 responses in about 18 hours of which, 48 per cent of participants were not in favour of the idea while the remaining 48 per cent liked the idea. Besides this, the people also highly criticised the transport and civic facilities provided to the public. They asked the police to work first on issues like traffic violations, encroachments, illegal parking, never-ending roadside construction works and lack of traffic police personnel to minimise traffic congestion on roads, said Nautiyal. He said, “I personally applaud the approach of the SSP to collect citizen feedback in an open and transparent manner. It would be good if his office can make a report based on public feedback and ask the State government to act on some of these genuine suggestions quickly.”
