No end to commuter woes between Rama Mandi and BSF Chowk

With no end to the traffic congestion between BSF chowk and the Rama Mandi chowk, there seems to be no early end of woes of the commuters passing through this section.

The rush on this section of the road has been increasing day by day and it takes at least half-an-hour to one hour to cross this one-and-a-half-km stretch.

Apart from the perennial problem of damaged roads, improper traffic lights and low-level traffic-monitoring by the traffic police, now the delay-dallying way in which the civic body has been laying the drainage pipeline between PAP chowk and Hotel Country Inn has further intensified the problem.

The work of laying the 1,500-ft drainage pipeline was started about a one-and-a-half month ago, and nearly 400 feet of the pipeline is yet to be laid. Keeping in view the traffic on the road, the work should have been completed on a war footing.

The contractor alleged that he is not allowed to work in full strength and has to stop the work when a VIP comes to the city.

However, sources said the civic body has also given freedom to the contractor and he has not been asked even once to complete the work at a fast pace.

Traffic lights at the PAP chowk also remain off most of time due to damaged power batteries. When there is any disturbance in power supply, traffic gets choked.

"I travel from Phagwara to Jalandhar via bus. Each bus usually gets stuck in the traffic on this stretch for about half- an-hour or more. During peak hours in the morning and the evening, long jams are a routine," said Mohit Rana, a student.

Interestingly, the stretch was repaired by the municipal corporation ahead of the marriage of the mayor's son by spending a huge amount, but now the road has been damaged again due to poor quality of material used in the repair.

Mayor Sunil Jyoti, when contacted, however, said that the work of laying the drainage system was going on at a fast pace and will be completed in a week.

"All the problems such as traffic jams, traffic signals and broken roads are in my notice and we are looking into the problems to solve them as early as possible," the Mayor replied in a casual manner.