Stalls, shoppers choke roads on Diwali eve

As the markets in the winter capital city are abuzz with heavy rush of customers, who come along with their families for Diwali shopping, there has been traffic chaos, too, as all roads leading to various areas in the city are witnessing traffic jams.

Though the traffic police have been deployed, but they too are not able to control the ever-increasing traffic. The winter capital of the city is facing heavy traffic chaos on the eve of Diwali as almost all the shopkeepers of the city have installed big stalls of their products outside their shops. Two to five feet road have been encroached upon by the shopkeepers, which is creating long traffic jams.

Interestingly the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), which should streamline the markets during the festivals, is minting money by issuing temporary permission to shopkeepers for installing stalls on the roadside.

Shopkeepers and other vendors have installed their stalls on the roadside and even encroached upon the roads up to 5 feet, which makes the roads narrower resulting in long traffic jams during the festive season.

“I have paid Rs 600 to a JMC official for installing this stall outside my shop. They are giving temporary permission for Rs 600 per day to setup special stalls on the roadside during Diwali,” said Sumit Mahajan, a shopkeeper at New Plot.

“Managing traffic is the job of the traffic police. There should be more deployment of the traffic police during the festive season,” he said on the issue of traffic chaos in his locality.

Residents of the city, who were out for Diwali shopping or to exchange gifts with their friends and relatives, were stuck in kilometres-long traffic jams. They were left with no other option, but to face the problem and curse the administration.

“Where are the administration and traffic police? Are they working for the politicians and bureaucrats only? Where will the common man go?” asked Kuldeep Sharma, a commuter.

“The traffic police are only concerned about the smooth movement of the politicians and the common man is facing traffic chaos, which not only waste fuel and time, but also lead to mental torture of the people,” he added.