With government failing to take a final call on the shifting of Batmaloo General bus stand to new bus terminal Parimpora in the outskirts of Srinagar the sumo and auto drives are playing spoilsport. As the bus services from Srinagar to other districts have stopped plying due to strike by the bus operators against the government’s proposed decision to shift the Batmaloo General Bus Stand (GBS) to new bus terminal at Parimpora the sumo and auto driver are ferrying the people to their desired destination on exorbitant rates and the traffic cops both in the Srinagar city and on the district routes are watching the helplessness of gullible passengers before the drivers of sumos, tavera vehicles and auto rickshaws. Unless and until the government does not take a final decision on the shifting of General Bus stand from Batmaloo to new bus terminal parimpora the traffic woes of the passengers for the obvious reasons can’t end. The poor passenger transport services are disturbing more employees of the government than the general public. The strike by the bus operators has hit more the North Kashmir districts as the buses plying to North Kashmir districts from Batmaloo bus stand have to shift to new bus terminal Parimpora as the buses plying on South Kashmir districts are already plying from new bus stand Pantha Chowk in the outskirts of Srinagar. Interestingly the North Kashmir MLAs don’t bother to take up the issue with the government to ensure early restoration of bus services for the convenience of thousands of passengers travelling daily on routes of North Kashmir districts. The thousands of passengers travelling daily in buses from Batmaloo General Bus Stand (GBS) to North and Central Kashmir districts are not only facing convenience due to absence of buses but also feel humiliated to see drivers of sumo and taveera passenger vehicles overcharging them on district routes. The rural traffic police could have been put on alert to oversee the adherence to the passenger capacity norms and fare charging practices by the drivers of Sumo and Taveera passenger vehicles from General Bus Stand Batmaloo to North and Central Kashmir districts.
The situation developing in the aftermath of the strike of bus operators at Batmaloo demands that transport minister himself takes on board both the bus operators and traders hit by shifting of the bus stand from Batmaloo to Parimpora and takes a widely acceptable decision to end the traffic woes of the people of North and central Kashmir districts.
So for only the divisional commissioner Kashmir has been handling the situation that has arisen in the aftermath of the strike of the bus operators of General Bus Stand Batmaloo and Minister I/C Transport has not even once bothered to move out to the General Bus Stand Batmaloo to get on spot feedback from the bus operators and the shopkeepers fearing a sharp decline in their trading activities by the shifting of bus stand to new bus terminal Parimpora. The situation developing in the aftermath of the strike of bus operators at Batmaloo demands that transport minister himself takes on board both the bus operators and traders hit by shifting of the bus stand from Batmaloo to Parimpora and takes a widely acceptable decision to end the traffic woes of the people of North and central Kashmir districts.
