SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Dec 20: For the past several days, residents of Ranchi have been suffering with long barges of traffic not only on the major roads but also on the smaller shortcuts throughout the city. Both, the traffic department and the Ranchi Municipal Corporation had earlier made several claims of removing encroachment, and relieving the city from jams, however, the claims seem to have blown up.
People in the city have had to wait for over 30-40 minutes in traffic all over, when going over distances, while if one has to travel from, say Namkom to RIMS, they have to wait in traffic for over one and a half hours instead of the normal 45 minutes to one hour.
Earlier, there were designated areas in the city which would have regular traffic, including areas like Kantatoli, Ratu Road, main road, and Kokar; however, now not only traffic in these areas has worsened, but people have been facing such problems in other parts of the city as well.
This, as a result, is not only affecting regular commuters but also ambulances and school buses. Earlier, CM Hemant Soren had commented that school buses in traffic be given similar preferences as ambulances. However, that is not the case.
Sunil Singh, bus in-charge at Bishop Westcott Namkom said, “Our drivers have reported that it takes longer for them to drop children nowadays. Earlier, it would take around one hour almost to drop a student from school to say Ratu Road, Bariatu. Pisca Mor would take around 20 extra minutes.”
Milton, Project Head, of 108 Ambulance Services, in this regard said, “The traffic situation seems to have affected the ambulances’ movements in general. However, the increased general awareness in the residents seems to help in this case.”
He further added, “If a ride would take 15 minutes earlier, now it takes 17 minutes. This is because people often clear the roads, but still it may take some time to get clear of the long routes that have traffic. In such a case, the ambulance drivers make up by travelling on clear routes faster.”
On the other hand, another problem here is that one person is being made to handle three individual departments. This may also be the reason behind the issue. Rural SP Naushad Alam is also the City SP and Traffic SP.
Notably, after City SP Anshuman Kumar was sent on central deputation, the charge of City SP has also been handed over to Naushad Alam. At the same time, the responsibility of Traffic SP, a post vacant for more than a year, has also been handed over to Alam.
Meanwhile, after taking over the charge of Traffic SP, Rural SP Naushad Alam held several meetings and instructed all the traffic officials to improve the system. He had given strict instructions about not getting the city jammed. The traffic police personnel posted at the square intersections were also instructed to remain alert while on duty.
However, all the claims and orders have gone up in thin air. At present, the condition of the city remains the same. A major reason for the jams is the construction work of three flyovers that began simultaneously in the capital. Even the encroachers on the roads also play a role here. The action was taken earlier through encroachment drives, but the situation has again worsened after it was stopped.
Meanwhile, Traffic Dy SP Dilip Khalkho said, “We are trying to control the situation and are working on it.” When asked about restarting the encroachment drives, he said, “We are continuously working with the RMC to control encroachment.”
However, when countered in this regard with examples of encroachment on the main road and Kutchehry, he said that the correspondent should also talk to RMC in this regard.
