Dehradun’s traffic management hit another low on Thursday when people were stuck for hours in jams, as ‘zero zones’ were enforced by the police for the convenience of those arriving for the Ayurvedic Conference. What sense is there in organising such events in the middle of the city if it creates such huge difficulties for the local people? One can only imagine the plight of students trying to get home from school, elder- citizens going to see the doctor, someone hoping to catch a train or flight, or just trying to get to the office. The situation out-foxed even those who had started early in the expectation that there would be traffic congestion.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that people are not exactly into following traffic rules, even if just a few are applicable when one’s vehicle is immobile. What are the traffic cops expected to do when even narrow by-lanes are jampacked with cars and two-wheelers? It wasn’t a smart city on Thursday and reports have it that the situation will continue for another three days.
There is nothing wrong with being ambitious in promoting Dehradun and Uttarakhand as a destination, but it has to be done intelligently and in the right sequence. The manner in which multi-storied structures are coming up in the city without restrictions from the town-planners in the context of overall carrying capacity does not augur well for the future. And matters will only be made worse by the rush of traffic heading this way once the elevated road is opened up.
There has been talk of shifting government offices out of the main city, beginning with the Secretariat and the Vidhan Sabha, but little has been done about it. The same could be done with the ‘Collectorate’ and the ‘Tehsil’, but the plans languish mostly in dust covered files. Whatever widening of the roads was possible has been done and there is very little scope left in that regard. Anyway, the wider the roads, the larger the cars people purchase. Public transport and car-pooling remain just concepts. It is no wonder that the number of serious accidents is on the rise. While the VIPs weave their way through traffic escorted by siren blaring vehicles, ordinary folk will have to tough it out in the rapidly deteriorating conditions. Who cares about them?
