Advisor to the Governor, Khurshid Ahmed Ganai today said it's high time to take concrete steps to improve the traffic management in the two capital cities of the State.The Advisor said there is a need to take a cue from the best managed metropolitan cities in the country to efficiently manage and regulate traffic.He expressed these views while chairing a high-level review meeting of transport department, which was attended by Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, Principal Secretary Finance Naveen Choudhary, Principal Secretary Transport Department Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Baseer Ahmed Khan, Transport Commissioner Jammu, Vice Chairman SDA, Vice Chairman JDA, SSP Traffic Srinagar, Additional Secretary Transport Department, RTO Jammu, and other senior concerned officials.Holding a threadbare discussion for systemic improvements in transport sector and traffic management, it was decided to establish a “traffic planning wing”, in the Transport Commissioner’s office to suggest various engineering and non-engineering measures for better traffic management. The wing will advise the high level traffic committee under the chairmanship of respective Divisional Commissioners.Seeking update on the status of pollution checking centres in the State, the Advisor was informed that 109 pollution checking centres are functional in the State, out of which 65 are in Kashmir division and rest 44 are in Jammu division.It was revealed that during 2017-18, the Motor Vehicles Department and J&K State Pollution Control Board, issued notices to 55 owners of pollution checking centre in the State for up-gradation of their pollution checking equipment.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary emphasized on the need to make the pollution checking centres more effective so as to drastically reduce the vehicle pollution levels in the two cities. He asked the Principal Secretary Transport department to streamline the working of the vehicle inspection wing of the department for the same purpose.The meeting also discussed the feasibility of introducing electrical vehicles in the State. It was decided that Principal Secretary transport along with Secretary Technical will visit couple of metropolitan cities in the country to see the end to end operation of electrical vehicles and submit the assessment report to the Government. It was also decided that State Motor Garages will examine the feasibility of procuring a couple of electrical vehicles for trial run and utility in the two capital cities of the State.Discussing installation of Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) in the State, the meeting was informed that the Motor Vehicles Department is developing GIS-based mobile application, JKRIDE Safe. The purpose of the app is to empower the general passengers on public transport vehicles to report about wrong driving practices by the drivers and is presently in the testing phase, revealed the officials in the meeting.