ISLAMABAD, April 12: The government has directed the authorities concerned to change flights timings of various airlines with a view to controlling traffic jams in the vicinity of Islamabad airport.

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According to an official statement, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Airport Security Force (ASF) have been asked to rectify the situation, particularly by reducing air traffic between 4am and 11am.

Traffic police have been asked to take special measures in public interest and stop all heavy and slow moving vehicles like trucks and tractors from using the airport route from 6am to 10am, particularly on Friday, Sunday and Monday.

The CAA has been asked to advise foreign carriers to review their flight schedule and plan their flights during the afternoons of Friday, Sunday and Monday, as there is no air traffic during this period.

Traffic jams around Islamabad airport have become a matter of routine, particularly during office hours. The problem also affects students who use the route to reach their schools and colleges.

Though Airport Road has been widened from some points and work is still in progress near Chaklala Railway Station and on the turn close to Islamabad Highway, the road exactly facing the airport is still so narrow that people get stuck up in the traffic jam.

People who live in the areas close to the airport believe that the road needs to be widened from the point where cargo office and PIA kitchen are situated.

Tazeem Anwar, a student who uses the road, said the problem occurred when people started changing lanes to reach the airport gate. Those coming from Rawal Road or Saddar to the airport find it difficult to change lane due to heavy traffic during the rush hours, and finally when they try to enter the airport gate, it takes a long time to make it from the extreme right lane. Till the time they succeed in their bid, more traffic keeps on accumulating behind them.

She said two traffic signals close to each other, one at the entry gate and the other at the exit gate of the airport further add to the traffic problem.

Asjad Khan, another student, said traffic jams during school hours were getting worse in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad with the start of summer. He said sometimes traffic posed a threat to the security of children who have to cross the road in front of their schools.

When contacted, an official of the Islamabad Traffic Police said there were over 10 schools on Nazimuddin Road alone. Despite our best efforts, we are unable to regulate traffic during school hours because of their mindless concentration on one road, he added.

He said it was CDA’s job to arrange sufficient parking space for schools. He said parents insisted on dropping children right at the school gate, which was part of the problem.

“There are hundreds of children in each school and a majority of them come on cars. How can you manage traffic when all parents want to drop children at one point in front of the school gate,” he said.

He said parents should park cars away from schools and these schools should be shifted away from the thickly-populated residential sectors.