RailEnquiry

KANPUR: The scenario in the city is no different during the ongoing 'traffic month'—there are snarls everywhere you go and throughout the working day. The chaotic scene at congested pockets of the city remains the same worsened further by encroachments and public flouting traffic rules. Tempos parked on the roads haphazardly only compound the sorry situation. Movement of hand-pulled rickshaws and horse-carts on busy paths like Mall Road and Mahatma Gandhi Road are another cause for traffic bottlenecks in the industrial city.Though there is nothing ever new about traffic snarls, the major one on Monday evening was result of the festive rush in markets blocking smooth vehicular movement. People were unable to find parking place for their vehicles. On November 1, when the traffic month was being inaugurated at Narhona crossing in the presence of top district police officials including deputy inspector general Amitabh Yash, district magistrate M P Agarwal, additional district magistrate city Anup Srivastava besides several other prominent persons of the city, the public was still caught in a traffic jam somewhere or the other at a number of places in the city—including the venue, Narhona crossing.When TOI probed into reasons for the jam and the mess at Govind Nagar on Monday evening, encroachment of the road by shopkeepers of the furniture market on the main road emerged as the prime factor followed by poor traffic sense of the commuters and mismanagement by traffic police. The jam in Govind Nagar area forced people to escape through the arterial roads to reach Vijay Nagar and head towards their respective destinations. Those who had to move towards P Road and Jarib Chowki were left with no option but to inch through vehicular rush.

Drivers of four-wheelers were seen taking a U-turn to avoid getting stuck up in the jam but with long rows of tempos and autos even the pedestrians were stuck up with space not enough even to walk. A jam was witnessed also at other major localities like Gumti, Jarib Chowki, P Road and Kalyanpur.

There is no check on encroachments by the shopkeepers. The traffic police personnel make hardly any effort to curb the crisis which is routine causing wastage of time and fuel of the public.

The worst hit are markets near railway crossing. Encroachments near the railway crossing add to the woes of commuters, maximised by prolonged closure of the crossing gates when trains pass. Such a situation is witnessed at all the busy railway crossings in the city.

Allahabad railway crossing at COD and Cantt railway crossing at Jarib Chowki, Gumti and Kalyanpur are busy railway crossings which lead to traffic congestion at all times of the day.Once the railway crossing open, commuters crisscross the path in a hurry and often enter into arguments or brawls with each other. In a short span of time, the queue of the motor-cycles and cars stretches to not less than a kilometer and leads to utter chaos.

The situation at busy commercial places in the city like Ghantaghar, Moolganj, Meston Road, Maniram Bagiya, Birhana Road too is just as bad if not worse.

Traffic cops on duty face a tough time managing the rush. Some impatient commuters add to the confusion in these busy markets by jumping signals or leaving their vehicle unattended.

"In a hurry, people flout all traffic rules. When this happens at busy crossings, it leads to a jam or people entering into heated arguments with each other. They often jump traffic lights installed at prominent crossings, adding to traffic woes ", said a traffic police inspector talking to TOI.

He added that public should respect traffic rules and follow them to ensure the city gets some respite from traffic congestion.

The situation at Ramadevi was no better. Long queue of vehicles especially heavy ones was visible. The busy crossing which falls on national highway-25 connects Kanpur and Lucknow and it was in a bad shape too on Monday. Whatever space was left on the highway had been captured by fruit vendors. As a result, the wide highway had turned into a narrow lane.