Traffic lights in Jammu delayed: Thanks to bureaucratic red tapism

Nitesh Sangral
JAMMU, April 6: The Jammuites will have to wait a little longer for the installation of traffic lights in the city as the concerned department has still not given its consent to the proposal. It is pertinent to mention here that government has announced that the project to install the traffic lights on the pattern of metropolitan cities will be started in January, but as the bureaucratic hurdles has delayed its passage, it will take many more months to restart the project. Interestingly, three month have been passed but the proposal has not been implemented. Source said that the state government and traffic police had advitised the project much through media and it was even told that it will change the traffic management scenario in Jammu and Kashmir. The task force has been constituted in this matter for the installation of the traffic lights in the Jammu city which will take all the matter regarding the installation of the traffic lights which study all the possibilities for their installation. Tall claims were made by the Traffic Police Department that the traffic lights were installed in the city soon so that the problems faced by the Jammuities will be eased. Administration has also constituted a task force which had sent a report to the Home department and it was decided to implement the project on the basis of built, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) plan. Talking to the TNI, Inspector General of police (IG) Traffice, Hemant Lohia, said, “We are continuing to work on this exercise and it will take some more time for start the work of Installations in Jammu city”. He further said that the proposal has been sent in this regard to the concerned Department. Also recently held a pre finalization bit conference on Monday and four is finalizations. In what could add more blues to the nightmares of traffic police and other traffic regulating agencies in the state, Jammu and Kashmir Transport Department has registered 36,238 fresh vehicles till ending September 2010. This apart, the department has also issued nearly 45,318 driving licenses which include 2,452 commercial and 42,866 non commercial across the state. Adding another huge fleet to the already over burdened roads, the official records suggest that out of the total vehicles registered this year 23,935 were for Jammu division and 12,203 for Kashmir valley. “Addition of these vehicles is like another frightening experience for us, though we cannot stop people buying cars, but there are no new roads to accommodate these in the state”, said a top official from the Transport Department.