Highway traffic in mess; travelers fume

“It is a painful experience to remain stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar highway for hours amidst hundreds of vehicles.”

With the authorities doing little to curb traffic jams on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway, traveling has become a tedious job on the arterial road of the state.

The dilapidated condition of the road has been aggravated by the recent rains, which forced the authorities to allow only one-sided movement of traffic.

“It is a painful experience to remain stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar highway for hours amidst hundreds of vehicles. The movement of vehicle is one-way,” said Rahul Sharma, a passenger, adding that the highway authorities have ensured that the vehicular movement is one sided, but huge traffic jams worsen the situation.

However, the drivers plying on the road accused the traffic department of creating mess. “The traffic police have been deployed to control the passage of the vehicles, but instead of doing that, they are allowing vehicles from both sides which leads to uncontrolled traffic jams along the highway,” said some drivers stranded near Peedha.

The tourists are feeling dismayed and a gradual decline in the tourist flow has been seen.

“The highway is not at all roadworthy for two-way traffic, as it has sunk at many places along the 300 km stretch, therefore one way traffic was the only alternative left for the authorities to keep the line functional,” said the driver of a Kashmir-bound Tempo Traveler, Javaid, with a group of tourists from Hyderabad.

Kashmir bound drivers alleged that traffic cops up to Banihal harass them and stop them only because their vehicles bear registration numbers of Kashmir. “The traffic police deployed along the stretch up to Banihal stop specific vehicles bearing registration number of Kashmir, which shows that they target drivers and are not to implement traffic rules,” they alleged. A senior traffic police officer said, “I admit that there are some black sheep in the traffic department, but still majority of the employees are delivering their duties with responsibility.” He added that the department is working day and night to ensure smooth flow to traffic on the highway.