No action against smoke belching commercial vehicles
*Resentment among commuters over selective enforcement
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 19: The worsening traffic mess in the Jammu city and its peripheries is fast turning into a daily nightmare for the commuters and at the heart of the crisis are the mini-buses, autos and e-rickshaws operating with near total impunity raising serious questions over the role of the Traffic Police.
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Moreover, despite repeated complaints from citizens and clear judicial directives, enforcement remains invisible raising serious questions about negligence, complicity and the credibility of the traffic management system in the winter capital.
Every day, commuters are forced to navigate through a chaotic mess created by mini-buses halting anywhere they please—middle of the road, busy roundabouts, junctions and even designated no-parking zones causing severe traffic jams. These vehicles, most of them poorly maintained, emit thick clouds of poisonous black smoke converting key stretches of the city into virtual ‘gas chambers’. Yet, despite the violations being in plain sight, enforcement remains almost absent.
From B C Road to Jewel Chowk, Parade to Satwari, Bantalab to Rehari Chungi Chowk via Janipur, Jewel Chowk to Talab Tillo, Bakshi Nagar to Canal Road etc the story is same—mini-buses blocking lanes, picking and dropping passengers at will and choking already congested roads. The blatant illegality is carried out in full public view and, more significantly, right in front of traffic personnel who prefer to look the other way.
Auto-rickshaws, too, add to the crisis, with drivers stopping in the middle of the road and operating without discipline. The unchecked presence of e-rickshaws, often driven by untrained drivers, has compounded the risk to passengers and other road users.
“The Traffic Police appears content with cosmetic drives and occasional challans while the real offenders continue business as usual,” angry commuters said, adding “it is astonishing that while two-wheelers and private cars are slapped with fines, smoke-belching mini-buses and reckless autos are rarely punished”.
Despite repeated directives of the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to curb pollution from unfit vehicles, Jammu’s roads remain dominated by mini-buses coughing out toxic fumes. The impunity with which these operators flout every possible rule only strengthens public suspicion of a deep-rooted nexus. “If these mini-buses are not being booked even when they emit visible smoke right before cops, it only proves complicity,” remarked several commuters.
“The consequences are not just limited to traffic jams. Jammu is heading towards a looming public health crisis. Inhaling pollutants from poorly maintained vehicles on a daily basis raises the risk of asthma, chronic bronchitis and even lung cancer. This unchecked pollution is silently damaging public health and every day of inaction is adding to the disease burden,” cautioned a senior pulmonologist at GMC Jammu.
“For the Traffic Police, collecting fines from motorcyclists not wearing helmets or private car owners not wearing seatbelts and seizing the vehicles with certain modifications seem to be the only priority. But when it comes to curbing violations by mini-buses, autos and e-rickshaws, the force simply turns blind eye”, the commuters said.
“It is impossible that such rampant violations are invisible to the cops who are stationed at every busy junction. The only logical explanation is either complicity or deliberate inaction,” they asserted, adding “unless the Traffic Police wakes up and initiates decisive, visible and sustained action—seizing smoke-emitting vehicles, penalising repeat offenders, strictly regulating e-rickshaws Jammu’s roads will remain chaotic, polluted and unsafe. Each day of official silence is not just an administrative failure but a betrayal of public trust with grave consequences for both mobility and health in the city”.
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