SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad September 1: Ban on entry of heavy goods vehicles and buses in the township under the new traffic system of Dhanbad district administration has triggered protest from the Truck Owners Association (TOA) and the Bus Owners Association (BOA).
The associations while opposing the new traffic route system of the district administration, have said that ban on the entry of buses in the city as well as closer of Dhanbad railway station bus stand would create harassment and prove costly for the people especially those who come by trains and take the bus for Bokaro, Giridih, Jamtara, Dumka and other districts.
“ New routes would be time taking and inconvenient to people of the coal city as they would have to drop from the bus in outskirts of the city. There would be a crisis of auto-rickshaw at the late night at the bus stop. Fair of the bus would be also increased due to long-distance,” observed TOA and BOA spokespersons.
According to the associations, the traffic jam occurs in the coal city due to narrow roads, unruly auto rikshaws and not from movement of buses or goods transport.
The district administration has announced new traffic routes from September 3 for heavy goods transport and inter-state, and inter-district buses especially for Dhanbad- Jamshedpur, Dhanbad- Ranchi, Dhanbad- Dumka, Dhanbad- Bhagalpur, Dhanbad- Bokaro and Dhanbad- Giridih, and others.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sandip Singh said that for getting rid of the perennial traffic congestion of the coal city and road safety, the administration has decided to change routes of inter-state as well as inter-district buses and heavy goods transport.
The District administration has shut down Dhanbad railway station-based bus stand and shifted it to Bartand based inter-state bus stand.
Under the new traffic routes system, there would be a complete ban on entry of private passenger bus and essential services transport such as petrol/diesel tankers and LPG vehicles in the city from 9 am to 9 pm. City-based commercial institutions and business establishments can unload their goods only between 11 pm to 8 am.
