KL Report

SRINAGAR

Despite being the most accident prone crossings in Srinagar at Bemina, Sanat Nagar and Nowgam Bypass  squares, the Army vehicles plying on the these road are seen violating the traffic rules during the day time.

The Bemina and Sanat Nagar crossings are the busiest crossings with huge number of private, public and commercial traffic traversing the square day in and day out.

“Every day convoys of Indian Army ply on the road with high speed while traffic police personnel find it hard to check them. The speedy army vehicles pose a threat to the lives of commuters and pedestrians,” locals told CNS and appealed the authorities especially the Military Police to initiate action against the ‘erring’ Army drivers.

Pertinently many important Government offices, including  State Board of School Education (BOSE), Srinagar Development Authority (SDA), Govt Polytechnic Women’s College, SKIMS Medical College, Town planning Organization and Hajj house fall along the Bypass area.

“The speedy army vehicle drivers don’t stop even when the traffic light shows the red and continue to ply in high speed without caring about the movement of the people” said Bashir Ahmad, a resident of Bemina.

The locals of Nowgam area of Srinagar city echoed same concern and urged upon the Traffic authorities to curb the erring Army drivers.

“We feel scared to walk on the roads whenever an Army convoy approaches towards Nowgam Bypass. Not speaking of tuition going children, even adults feel scary to cross the road,” a shopkeeper Tariq Ahmed said.

“The other day, I had a narrow escape. The traffic light was red and as I started crossing the road, the army vehicle coming from the other side of the road didn’t bother to stop and almost hit me,” said another local.

Despite the fact that the accident rate is highest on these busy roads, no personnel from traffic department remains present on these squares. Moreover, the State Government last year in a statement claimed that CCTV cameras will be installed at these signals to identify and take action against the violators, but till date nothing has been done in this regard.

When contacted, Superintendent of Police Traffic City said that they have not received any such complaint yet.

“A good number of traffic police personnel are deployed at these squares to monitor the traffic. If any traffic violation is observed on part of any army driver, we will definitely take action,” he said adding that the overall impact of traffic signals had remained good at these squares and had lead to a sharp decline in accidents at these places.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here