The people of Rawalpindi city and outskirts spent the last two days in traffic gridlocks as a good number of motorists have thronged commercial hubs for Ramazanul Mubarak shopping.
The traffic flow was severely interrupted from 10am to 10pm on all city roadways because of pre-Ramazan wholesale and retail shopping. Traffic halted for hours on all roads and at intersections. The downtown areas including Raja Bazaar, Nirankari Bazar, Kashmiri Bazar, Ganj Mandi, Iqbal Road Bazar Talwaran, Bohar Bazar, Mochi Bazar, Dingi Khoi, Jamia Masjid Road, Bani Chowk, Kalan Bazar, Vegetable Fruit Market, City Sadar Road Sadiqabad witnessed worst traffic jams.
The traffic wardens were seen as helpless in regulating the traffic flow as school pick and drop vans and ambulances were also stuck for hours. The announcement by the City Traffic Police (CTP) to improve the traffic system before the start of the holy month failed to materialise. In addition to locals, several families from the surrounding areas of Rawalpindi travelled to the city for wholesale pulses, grocery and spice markets including the dates market.
The massive presence of shoppers in city shops and wholesale markets aggravated the traffic problem. Motorcyclists also continued to violate one-way traffic because of less presence of wardens at intersections.
The dysfunctional traffic lights and power outage from 9am to 3pm further added fuel to the fire as motorists were seen taking advantage of manual traffic handling by wardens.
Traffic remained fully blocked on Murree Road from Committee Chowk and Liaquat Bagh to Chandni Chowk. The flow of traffic on Rawal Road was also halted.
According to a city traffic police officer, some roads will be converted into one-way with the help of barriers for smooth traffic flow during Ramazan. He said that a restriction is being imposed on pushcarts for standing together in one place in the inner city, adding parking won’t be allowed at commercial centres situated in the inner city.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 11th, 2024.
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