With the construction of two bus stands and more than a dozen government complexes housing several directorates on Srinagar bye pass connecting Parimpora with Pantha Chowk during last one decade, the government has virtually changed this only by pass rout of the summer capital into a circular roads. The shifting of Batmaloo bus stand to Parimpora on the Bemina by pass as claimed by the government was an attempt to decongest the traffic movement in the city centre but unfortunately the unprecedented rise in the frequency of traffic congress in and around city centre areas has thrown up more huge challenges to traffic regulation authorities. Today frequency of traffic jams is more intense on the Srinagar bye near the newly established bus stands at Parimpora and Pantha Chowk than the traffic jams in the city centre and some parts of old Srinagar city. What increase is the intensity of traffic jams near bus stands at Parimpora and Pantha Chowk is the presence of fruit and vegetable vendors all along the bye pass now virtually changed into a circular road and by all standards of understandabilities the onus of responsibility lies on the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) and city traffic police. Ironically the fruit and vegetable vendors have appeared even on the periphery of Srinagar –Baramulla highway near Forest Depot Parimpora. Unfortunately the successive governments during last one year debated the failures of previous master plans in Srinagar city but converted to truck terminals into bus stands at Parimpora and Pantha Chowk. Even today the area of the Batmaloo bus stand lying close to city centre is several times larger than both Pantha Chowk and Parimpora truck terminal now converted into bus stands. Initially the truck terminals at Pantha Chowk and Parimpora were built to ease the movement of truck loads of apple to Jammu & arrival of the truck loads of essential commodities from outside Kashmir to Pantha Chowk and Parimpora truck terminals in Srinagar.
Unwise and unpopular decisions can’t resolve the issues of traffic congestion in Srinagar but have instead taken away the facilities which the only pass built for Srinagar in last two decades from Parimpora to Pantha Chowk could have provided to the hapless Srinagarites and the valley’s ruralites running their trading activities in collaboration with the traders of Srinagar city.
Though traders and civil society groups in Srinagar opposed tooth and nail the decision government took in haste on the shifting of Batmaloo bus stand but people running the affairs of the government instead of taking feed backs from the stake holders and putting them into public domain for a bigger consensus enforced its unwise and unpopular decision just to deface Srinagar city and render jobless the bread earners of the hundreds of families who were running their trading outlet for last several decades in and around Batmaloo bus stand. Such unwise and unpopular decisions can’t resolve the issues of traffic congestion in Srinagar but have instead taken away the facilities which the only pass built for Srinagar in last two decades from Parimpora to Pantha Chowk could have provided to the hapless Srinagarites and the valley’s ruralites running their trading activities in collaboration with the traders of Srinagar city.
