August 01, 2007	Wednesday	Rajab 16, 1428

RAWALPINDI, July 31: A major part of the cantonment area has poor traffic signal system due to which vehicular movement on main roads in Saddar remains jammed from dawn to dusk.

As traffic signals remain out of order most of the time, particularly during peak hours, the public faces complete chaos and mess on the Kashmir Road starting from the telegraph office up to the Marrir Hassan Chowk.

The traffic police face an uphill task to control the traffic, and the unauthorised bus stops and the ‘out of control’ public transport further aggravate the situation.

While the entire traffic signal system in the cantonment area needs to be modernised with the growth in the number of localities and vehicles on road, authorities have unnecessarily installed a traffic signal a few yards away from the Kamran Market Chowk where a traffic signal already exists.

Unfortunately, that traffic signal do not function most of the time. As a result, haphazard traffic coming from at least a dozen roads remain choked at the Kamran Market Chowk.

The traffic police are hardly seen at this point and the new electronic traffic signal installed at a cost of Rs900,000 opposite the Military Accounts Office puzzles the public.

The new signal is likely to pose threats of accidents particularly after the reopening of the F.G. Girls School in the vicinity of Kamran Market.

The electronic traffic signal installed on Peshawar Road is said to be damaged by the thunderstorm early this month. It was replaced by an ordinary signal which functions occasionally.

This is an important junction linking the city to the cantonment areas.

The traffic signal at the junction of Adamjee Road near Varan bus stand has been out of order for years if not a decade, and it continues to be ignored by the authorities.