Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today called for formulating a futuristic traffic management and mobility plan for Srinagar without blemishing the city’s distinct heritage character by constructing concrete monsters.“The Government of India subsidiary RITES which has already formulated a mobility plan for Srinagar, would be asked to revisit the same and come up with a refurbished plan in tune with the present day and futuristic requirements keeping in sight the city’s distinct heritage character,” Chief Minister said while chairing a high-level meeting convened here this afternoon to review the traffic management and mobility plan for Srinagar city.Minister for R&B, Mr A R Veeri, Chief Secretary, Mr. B. R. Sharma, Financial Commissioner Planning and Development, Mr. B. B. Vyas, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. Navin Kumar Choudhary, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Mr Asgar Hassan Samoon, Commissioner Secretary R&B, Mr. Rohit Kansal, Commissioner Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department, Mr Hirdesh Kumar, Commissioner Secretary PHE, Mr Sanjeev Verma and IG Traffic J&K, Mr Viplav Kumar were present at the meeting.
The Chief Minister said while professional consultants like RITES would be engaged for reworking the long-term traffic and mobility plan for the capital cities, as an immediate measure, the R&B Department should take up massive widening of roads, wherever possible, to create more space for movement of traffic and the pedestrians. She also called for removal of encroachments from the roads, lanes, by-lanes and footpaths to facilitate hassle-free movement of vehicles and people.
She also suggested setting up of a Traffic Engineering Institute in the State to get locally trained and professionally qualified experts in traffic management. She stressed the need for traffic management in a professional manner so that improvement is visible on the ground and people feel the change.The Chief Minister emphasized on coordinated efforts by the stakeholders to bring visible improvement in the traffic management in the twin capital cities and other towns of the State. She said considerable increase in traffic and shrinking roads have made traffic management a challenging task which needs efficient efforts and proper supervision. She asked for putting in effective management strategies to ease the difficulties of the people caused by traffic jams.
The meeting discussed various measures put in place to bring innovative changes in the traffic management and the results achieved thereof. It was told that additional manpower has been pressed into service and modern gadgets introduced to improve traffic the management. Traffic patrols have also been deployed to ensure smooth traffic movement on National Highway and other vital routes.FC Planning & Development informed the meeting that in the draft City Mobility Plan (CMP), RITES has identified areas requiring focused attention to improve and upgrade traffic management in Srinagar and Jammu. It has also suggested short and long term measures for improvement of transport scenario in these cities. It has flagged critical infrastructure needs for upgrading mobility within the cities keeping in view the traffic growth and consequent challenges upto 2030.He said the RITES has also suggested implementation of mass transport system like Monorail, Bus Rapid Transport System, In-land Waterways transport system, development of parking spaces and widening of roads.The Chief Minister asked the FC Planning & Development to convene a meeting immediately with the stakeholders to discuss the CMP formulated by the RITES for Srinagar and Jammu.During the meeting the authorities of R&B, Traffic Police and Chief Town Planner put forth their suggestions regarding curbing traffic jamming and streamlining of traffic in Srinagar city.Chief Engineer R&B Department, Chief Engineer Flood Control Department, Vice-Chairman SDA, MD JKPCC, Chief Town Planner Kashmir and SSP Traffic Srinagar were also present at the meeting.