Bumper-to-bumper traffic is new nightmare for commuters in Surat

Surat: It’s no longer the destination that matters for the Surtis these days. It’s the road ahead that gives them the jitters. For, majority of these important roads connecting vital areas of Diamond City remain jam packed throughout the day, resulting in huge loss of time for the commuters on a daily basis. Along with heavy vehicular movement the ongoing development or repair work has added to the already worse traffic scenario on the city roads. Due to traffic jams throughout the day, people going to Varachha from Athwalines avoid the Ring Road and instead opt for the Canal Road. But due to heavy traffic during peak hours one has to spend a long time to get through. Similarly, while going through the city centre Chowk Bazaar or Bhagal Main road, the travelling experience can be very stressful owing to the chaos and the diversions. Due to ongoing work and barricading for Metro work the roads from Althan to Chowk Bazaar are jammed throughout the day. At locations where the Metro work is not continuing, police have given approval to Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) to start repair work blocking major junctions. At Anuvrat Dwar, the police have allowed the SMC to carry out repair work closing the flyover and the road below. “The flyover repair permission was pending for a few months while for the road below if SMC feels it is important, we have to give permission to start work,” said Amita Vanani, DCP (Traffic).“On other major roads traffic jaJam ms are happening due to multiple development work started by the SMC. Many roads also are under repair or redevelopment as such works were pending for some months because of the recently-concluded Assembly elections. These works have been started now leading to the traffic jams,” added Vanani. Now, the police may ask the project execution agencies to keep marshals at these locations where the massive traffic jams are a regular occurrence. “Considering the huge traffic jams, we will have to deploy extra manpower to manage smooth flow . I will inquire how we can resolve the issue,” said Ajay Tomar, city police commissioner.