Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Mar 19: High Court today directed the Traffic Police as well as Srinagar Municipal Corporation to ensure vendor free roads in the city and castigated them for not addressing the traffic mess in the city that leads to difficulties for common people.
The amicus to the PIL Advocate Ateeb Kanth apprised the Court that the authorities are sitting as mute spectators to address the traffic congestion issue especially in the city and despite court directions vendors have encroached the roads causing huge problems for the general public.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Rajesh Bindal in this regard directed the police to stop the encroachments by the vendors and reiterated that the practice (allowing vendors to encroach the roads) should not happen in future.
The PIL involves number of issues like the transport congestion in both the cities of Srinagar and Jammu, the pollution that is caused by various stake holders living and doing business in these cities, the difficulty caused due to congestion in the roads which are not of adequate size, the difficulty caused due to lack of car parking facility, the difficulty caused by lack of public transport, bus stand facility etc.
Court also directed the committee nominated to hold the meeting as directed previously regularly to examine the traffic congestion issues and apprise the court accordingly. In the first court directed to have such meeting in first week of April and address all the issues with other stake holders for effective plans on the issues of traffic jamming.
The committee was nominated on court directions to chalk out the plan of action for reducing the traffic congestion and was supposed to meet once in a month with other stake holders for effective plans on the issues of traffic jamming. The committee consists of Divisional Commissioner, Transport Commissioner, Vice Chairman SDA and Commissioner SMC.
Court was informed that the committee did not meet for a long time and no action plan as such has been placed before the court with regard to overcoming the traffic congestion in the city.
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