SRINAGAR: Ahead of the apple harvesting season, Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta held detailed deliberations with all the stakeholders including the Highway authorities for finding ways and means to reduce the travel time on the Sgr-Jmu National Highway for the Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs).
During the meeting on Friday the traffic authorities presented empirical data regarding the actual movement of LMVs and HMVs on the highway and their driving patterns on this road. For the purpose of understanding the traffic between 70 Kms stretch of Navyug and Chenani-Nashri Tunnels for a period of 15 days was considered.
Regarding the movement of fruit trucks from valley the Chief Secretary stressed on taking onboard the Fruit Associations while devising the traffic plan. He asked for marking the fruit-laden trucks with specially designed stickers for their identification and giving unhindered access to reach the Mandis outside. He directed the Deputy Commissioners of valley to establish District Control Rooms in their offices for giving real time updates to the fruit growers about the road and other issues.
While making his observations regarding remedial measures for smooth flow of traffic on the road, the Chief Secretary said that HMVs lower than 3-axles should not be halted anywhere during its travel on the road. He asked for keeping an eye on chronically sslow-movingvehicles and enquire from each of them about the reasons behind the same. He also advised for penalizing those erratically moving vehicles under law causing inconvenience to others traveling on this road.
Dr Mehta impressed upon the concerned highway authorities along with the Deputy Commissioners to designate no halt zones in their respective jurisdictions and strictly adhere to same under all circumstances. He asked them to take measures for improvement of the road surface near the slide-prone stretches at Dalwas, Mehad, Cafeteria Morh and Sher-Bibi. He further instructed for designating the halting areas for trucks especially in the Ramban District where the widening of road is still in progress.
The Principal Secretary, PWD, Shailendra Kumar observed that efforts should be made by the concerned to reduce the gap between minimum and maximum time taken by the vehicles to cross the Chenani-Banihal stretch. He also advised for making vehicles to move continuously without any halts and use of lean window (between 1:00 am to 5:00 am) optimally by diverting most of the heavy vehicles to cross the 2-lane stretch during the underutilized time period.
It was inferred that by taking measures like enhancing the time window for plying of heavy vehicles (above 4-axle) during night and letting the rest of the traffic to move continuously would greatly reduce their travel time. It was also enjoined that by dedicating the infrastructure projects like 2nd tubes of Kunfer tunnel, Chanderkot tunnel and Ramban flyover by the month of September would bring huge respite to all the travelers in the days to come.
