RAWALPINDI: The city witnessed gridlocks on Sunday with the traffic police issuing an “advisory” for commuters and motorists to follow traffic rules, avoid unnecessary trips besides launching a campaign on social media claiming ‘smooth flow of traffic’ in busy areas and appreciating the performance of the traffic police personnel.

The traffic police in its campaign on social media showed wardens managing traffic, pedestrians walking on Raja Bazaar, Fawara Chowk, CPO Chowk, DAV College Road, Liaquat Road, and adjacent roads.

But the situation on the ground was quite different as the traffic condition made it another hard day for motorists and even pedestrians who seemed unable to cross roads.

Due to the repair work on the metro bus track from Faizabad to Islamabad, traffic congestion has been witnessed on Murree Road and snail-paced flow of vehicles at Mareer Chowk, DAV College Road, Cantt areas, Commercial Market in Satellite Town and other parts of the city.

Traffic police ask motorists to follow rules, especially avoiding wrong parking

The chief traffic officer was informed by the traffic police staff: “Metro bus track is being repaired near Survey of Pakistan and one-and-a-half lane of the road is occupied by workers, resultantly, traffic is moving at a very slow pace.”

The City Traffic Police have issued an advisory in view of the potential heavy traffic pressure on Peshawar Road, Mall Road, Saddar Cantt, Murree Road, Raja Bazaar and adjacent roads, asking people to follow traffic rules — especially avoid wrong parking.

A traffic police spokesman said on Sunday that unusual rush was expected in markets due to the weekend, Christmas and wedding season shopping by citizens.

On the instructions of the CTO, additional personnel have been ordered to remain on a standby while monitoring from the control room also continued.

Like past practice, the CTO issued instructions to intensify operations against encroachments and illegal parking that disrupt traffic flow.

The spokesman said the CTO had directed the concerned DSPs and circle in-charges to ensure smooth traffic flow. Forklifter squads were directed to patrol continuously.

During rush hours, traffic slows down on Peshawar Road, Mall Road, Cantt, Murree Road, Liaquat Road, Raja Bazaar and adjacent roads, the spokesman said.

Due to the weekend, there is more traffic than usual on other roads and commercial areas of the city.

The police asked motorists to avoid wrong parking, adhere to lane and line rules and maintain appropriate distance between vehicles.

Circle in-charges and sector in-charge have been directed to remain in the field during rush hours to ensure traffic flow and provide all possible facilities to the public, the traffic police advisory said.

The traffic congestion issue in the city areas was apparently caused due to the closure of Bank Road for parking and traffic movement, which caused motorists to move towards the city areas for shopping rather than Saddar.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic was witnessed on Murree Road, Liaquat Bagh, DAV College Road, Iqbal Road and some link roads.

A traffic police official said the major cause of congestion was encroachments, hawkers and vendors who occupy roads and main intersections disrupting the flow of traffic.

Hundreds of motorists were seen stuck in traffic, causing inconvenience to women and children as some were looking towards the traffic wardens to come to their rescue.

A motorist, who gave his name as Asif, said: “Had the city been cleared of encroachments with wardens aggressively enforcing traffic laws, things would have turned out differently.”

Traffic in Harley Street was stuck after a mixture machine collapsed in a manhole and efforts continued to clear the road till the filing of this report.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2024