GUJRAT: The people of Gujrat have been facing the agony of traffic jams for quite some time as long queues of vehicles have become a common scene on the city roads.

The traffic police, administration and civic authorities have apparently failed in resolving the issue while the situation has worsened by the dysfunctional traffic signals at various squares, faulty traffic engineering, encroachments by the traders, double parking and lack of law enforcement.

Rehman Shaheed Road, Jail Chowk, Kutchehry Chowk, Bhimbher Road, Court Road, GTS Chowk, Circular Road, Jalalpur Jattan Road, Sargodha Road and Railway Road witness the worst traffic flow in the city.

Ambulances and vehicles carrying students of the University of Gujrat (UoG) and other educational institutions of the city are often seen stuck in the massive traffic jams.

Since a large number of education institutions and hospitals are located along the said routes, movement on these roads would take a long time for the motorists to reach any destinations within the city.

The residents of Marghzar Colony, Model Town, Shadman Colony and adjoining localities face more issues due to layered parking in front of major private hospitals on Jail Road and Bhimbher Road.

The downtown areas like Circular Road, Chowk Pakistan and Shahdaula Road are also problematic areas due to encroachments by the traders and parking of private vehicles and rickshaws by the roadside. Even the alternate roads leading towards the major city roads would often remain choked with the heavy traffic whereas hundreds of handcarts selling various items either roam the roads or permanently occupy them to sell their merchandise.

Dr Jawad, a resident of Rehman Shaheed Road, termed the traffic situation in the city pathetic and blamed the civic agencies, which had dug the roads for various works without giving any alternate traffic plan.

“We have dysfunctional traffic lights, bad sanitation, worse traffic management and pathetic road conditions. Keeping the situation in view, I think Gujrat must be ranked among the worst cities in the country at the moment,” he lamented.

It is learnt that an official of inspector rank has been performing duties of the Gujrat DSP traffic for the last couple of years due to alleged political pressure of the coalition partners of the PTI government as his transfer had been reverted at least twice.

Commenting on the situation, a spokesman for the Gujrat police said the ratio of vehicles was increasing day by day but the human resource of traffic police was not enhanced whereas with limited available resources the traffic police had to perform duties in the entire district. He added that police were well aware of the problems and they were trying their level best to address the traffic issue.

An official of the traffic police said education, engineering and enforcement were keys to discipline the traffic flow and traffic police had to ensure the enforcement, which came last of all.

He added that society lacked traffic sense and the cities like Gujrat, Lalamusa, Jalalpur Jattan and Dinga did not have proper traffic engineering mechanism.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2021