Traffic regulation in a state of paralysis in Kashmir

The Kashmir valley has seen unprecedented increase in the number of vehicles during last two decades of widespread urbanization and consequently , the traffic mess that we all encounter each day, has become a daily experience and more so in twin capital cities-Srinagar and Jammu. Day in and day out newspapers carry reports about traffic jams on the roads in cities and town but authorities turn a deaf ear to the public outcries on this count. Though the continuous traffic chaos hits normal life day in and day out but even then the concerned authorities are not held responsible for Traffic management. The authorities having an institutional and administrative obligation to smoothen the traffic system include Chief Town Planner, Chief Engineer R&B, Transport Commissioner, Concerned Municipal Corporation and Municipal Committees, R.T.Os’ and A.R.T.Os’ and at last Traffic Police wing of J&K Police but none of them bother to take up the challenge of sorting this mess on our roads. In the absence of strict enforcement of traffic rules on the roads people generally tend to take liberty with the rules and regulations and consequently traffic congestion hits the normal life in almost all the urban parts of Jammu & Kashmir state. In fact we are yet to understand the meaning of roads, road Engineering, traffic Engineering, road signs and markings, traffic signs and signals, importance of Transportation and value of emergencies and regencies and this, unfortunately, is the main reason of traffic chaos in Jammu & Kashmir state. The most unfortunate parts of our traffic management system is that traffic wing of J&K Police (Traffic Department) alone is, quite bizarrely, held responsible for traffic management or the mismanagement and very surprisingly the other units of the management are simply not included when it comes to blaming. The helmsmen talking much about the smoothening of the traffic regulation system in Jammu & Kashmir state are yet to understand that the lack of coordination among the above mentioned departments has set the scene for ever increasing traffic congestions.
The tremendous increase in the number of vehicles in the urban areas have given rise to numerous added challenges which and hence regulation of traffic and maintenance of transportation routes is to be essentially attended with better co-ordination for smooth traffic regulation with less number of accidents. So by all standards of administrative understandabilities a comprehensive traffic management policy is required which demands the engagement of qualified town planner with a specialization of traffic management or Engineering and not a police man or a bureaucrat. The cops deployed for traffic regulation are not qualified for the job as there is no subject taught regarding traffic engineering and its regulation. The fact that the cops vested with the duty of traffic regulation lack necessary training is evident when we see them stopping vehicles for checking essential documents at a crossing or a four-way. In fact traffic cops don’t understand that their action is actually causing serious inconvenience by halting traffic. They could easily do the document checking thing at a specific point keeping in mind that such an action was not disrupting traffic. Bus stops and passenger sheds are being constructed without any proper planning while drivers are not trained to stop their vehicles at bus stops. Henceforth strong decisions for putting the right persons at the right place are in great demand to smoothen the chaotic traffic regulation system in the state.