RAWALPINDI: With the start of work on the elevated road for the metro bus service project over Murree Road, traffic in the garrison city has gone haywire with the city district government and the traffic police looking as hapless bystanders.

The traffic police are not taking the matter seriously and after just issuing a traffic plan for ‘smooth flow’ of vehicles, they almost disappeared from the scene.

According to the traffic plan, parking of vehicles on Murree Road was to be banned and the motorists were to take the Airport Road or the I.J. Principal Road to go to Islamabad from Rawalpindi.

However, the residents said without a proper planning, putting a ban on parking at the busy artery was not possible.

The police also did not issue any guideline how it would tackle the traffic in the inner parts of the city where all the main markets and bazaars are located.

Even they did nothing to overcome the gridlocks at the busiest Fawara Chowk.

A visit to Fawara Chowk by this reporter showed traffic mess on all the link roads such as City Saddar Road, Liaquat Road, Kashmiri Bazaar Road, Ganjmandi Road, Iqbal Road and Raja Bazaar Road.

Sheikh Khurram, a trader, said the traffic gridlocks at Fawara Chowk were causing financial loses to the traders as majority of the visitors avoided visiting the nearby Raja Bazaar. He said almost six traffic officials were deputed at the Fawara Chowk but they seemed helpless in handling the traffic jams.

“It has become impossible for the pedestrians even to cross the roads,” he said and added that the higher authorities should prepare a comprehensive traffic plan to bring order to the roads near Fawara Chowk. He said traffic rush at the Chowk disturbed the flow of traffic on all other link roads.

Asghar Warraich, a taxi driver, said he avoided bringing passengers to the site because it would be the wastage of time and fuel.

“The mismanagement by the traffic police and the local government is creating traffic mess at Fawara Chowk and Murree Road,” said Mohammad Shamsur Rehman, a visitor.

He said he had come to the area for shopping but it would be better not to visit the area again for about one year till the completion of the metro bus project.

Mohammad Akram, a visitor to a market at Murree Road, said trucks, wagons, minibuses, Suzuki vans, rickshaws, motorcycle rickshaws, vendors, cabs, loading vehicles, cars and bikes were creating a mess on the busy artery.

He said the police should revise the traffic plan for Fawara Chowk and should not allow low speed vehicles there, so that the situation could be improved.

Matloob Ahmad, a shopkeeper, said if the traffic issue was not resolved, nobody would be visiting the locality for shopping.

Fahad Sultan, a private employee in Islamabad, said due to the closure of the roads the public transporters were using long routes. Now it takes about two hours to reach Zero Point from Rawalpindi city instead of the usual one hour, he added.

“It has become a headache for the visitors to the markets at Murree Road during rush hours. Despite spending billions of rupees, the motorists were still being forced by the provincial government to use bumpy and uneven roads in the city,” said Saleem Raja, a resident of Marrir Hasan.

When contacted, Rawal Town Administrator Imran Qureshi said the traffic management was the responsibility of the traffic police and the city government was helping it remove the temporary encroachments from different areas to ensure smooth flow of vehicles.

City Traffic Officer (CTO) Shoaib Khurram told Dawn that the heavy traffic was banned in the city and the traffic police were working day and night to improve the flow of traffic on Murree Road.

However, he admitted that there was rush in the downtown areas.

He blamed the local administration for not removing the encroachments from the roadsides and footpaths to improve the flow of traffic.

He said the traffic police were trying to control traffic and soon the residents would see an improvement in the situation.

The official, however, said traffic would remain slow in the downtown areas and Murree Road due to the construction of the elevated road.