Caught in jam, RDD Minister tries hand at traffic- policing

Recommends action against ‘absent’ cops on highway

The Minister for Rural Development Department ( RDD) Abdul Haq Khan acted as a traffic policeman on Srinagar- Jammu highway on Tuesday and cleared the traffic jam between Ramban and Banihal.

The minister, accompanied by his party colleague and Member Legislative Council Firdous Tak, was on way to Srinagar after chairing a meeting of district administration at Ramban, but was caught in a heavy traffic jam between Ramban and Banihal.

Eyewitnesses said that complete chaos prevailed as vehicles from both the sides were allowed for two way traffic on the highway. ” There was no cop visible on the road and thousands of people were stuck in the jam since around 10 am”, said Abdul Rashid Khan, a government employee from Banihal.

It was learnt the minister, after being stuck in the traffic jam, came out of his vehicle to assess the situation.

He, the eyewitnesses said, travelled around 7 kilometers on foot from Digdol to reach Ramsoo where the traffic was choked.

The Minister and the legislator were seen clearing the vehicles personally.

” They spent more than three hours on the road and ensured that the traffic on both the sides of the highway plied smoothly”, Muhammad Abass Wani, a driver told over phone.

Reports said that even after the legislators spent three hours to clear the road, there was no trace of any traffic cop. ” The only help the minister got was from a Sub Inspector escorting the cavalcade, a traffic cop who was proceeding on leave, two cops on way to record statement of a victim in Ramban and his personal staff”, the eyewitnesses said.

The RDD minister brought the matter into the notice of IGP traffic and recommended stern action against personnel posted on the highway, sources said. The IGP traffic took a serious note of traffic jam and absence of traffic police from highway and ordered an inquiry into the matter, they added.