PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, July 22: A local resident escaped unhurt on the Mango bridge while he was returning home the other day.
His car was trapped between two buses, one of which stopped abruptly on the Sakchi-end of the Jai Prakash Narayan Setu (Mango bridge) to pick up passengers.
The second bus was stationary and to his left, while another one was behind him. He was lucky his car did not get pounded by the bus from behind.
Another biker was lucky. The long-distance bus in front of him applied brakes suddenly and he managed to stop in the nick of time.
Long-distance buses, meant to operate and pick up passengers from the designated bus terminus at Sitaramdera, have made the second Mango bridge a traffic nightmare.
Often long-distance buses halt on the bridge for picking up passengers thus blocking the way for other vehicles which create long traffic snarls posing inconvenience for daily commuters.
The entry of the bridge gets blocked because of the buses which halt there to pick up passengers, some of which take much time to board as they are carrying luggage.
The problem is acute in the morning between 8am and 9am and again in the afternoon between 2pm and 4pm.
Long distance buses have a designated stop- Sitaramdera terminus. But drivers have made a habit of stopping on the bridge.
Interestingly no traffic cops are found around.
The traffic constables posted at the nearby roundabout does nothing to prevent this illegal practise.
More than 300 long-distance buses to various parts of the state and Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, operate out of the Sitaramdera bus terminus daily.
