Frequent traffic jams have become a daily problem in Jammu and Kashmir. The high density of vehicles on roads naturally increases the problem of air and noise pollution besides forcing the commuters to spend several hours facing the snarling traffic jams. There is no denying that the government in J&K has improved the roads and bridges to a large extent, but despite this, the situation regarding traffic congestion is still dismal. In major cities and semi-urban centres finding vacant roads has become nearly impossible with a good number of vehicles being parked along the roads and streets for days together.
In the 1990s, when the country took a big leap towards opening up the economy, the process of purchasing vehicles was simplified and the facility of loans came into vogue. This, no doubt, gave power even to those sections of society who could not afford a car or commercial vehicle at that time but, by using loan facilities, they started buying such vehicles. At that time there were roads with less vehicular traffic and driving was a luxury but today the scenario has changed with space on roads shrinking with each passing day as from a few hundred vehicles in the 1990s, the number has reportedly crossed the 27 lakh mark, making it necessary for the people at the helm to take necessary steps on war footing to ensure that the roads across the Union Territory remain functional and should not get choked due to surge in vehicle numbers.
While owning a car ensures comfort and status, if the number increases out of proportion on the roads, it is bound to create problems for everyone. It is understandable that the transport authorities and the traffic police in J&K have been taking routine steps to streamline the vehicular movement but with a gigantic addition of vehicles on a yearly basis, these measures cannot bear fruit and therefore it is the right time to set stricter rules for vehicle ownership and encourage people to use public transport instead. Reportedly, Jammu and Kashmir now has more than 27.36 lakh registered vehicles, while the total road network stretches roughly 41,141 km – a figure that has seen little change even as the vehicle count rises year after year. Roughly, one can calculate that J&K has nearly 67 vehicles for every kilometre of road, which is a startling figure and needs to be taken care of sooner rather than later.
Things have turned critical as far as traffic congestion is concerned; therefore, limiting vehicle ownership criteria is the last resort to be adopted as a direct strategy to ease congestion. The government should ponder over it or else the choking of roads in the near future will become inevitable.
