Illegal parking of buses causing traffic congestion in Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur, May 30: Illegal parking of long distance buses on approach roads near the Sitaramdera bus terminus and along Mango bridge is causing traffic congestion and posing a mishap threat for commuters. “I was going to board a bus for Cuttack (in Odisha) on Monday last at the terminus in an autorickshaw and there was a long queue of buses standing on the approach road causing traffic congestion for nearly 200 meters away from the bus terminus. It took me nearly 20 minutes to negotiate the 200 meters due to crawling traffic,” said a resident of Agrico.

The situation worsens during peak traffic hours and during entry of heavy vehicles. “The traffic jam increases with long distance buses parked on one side and heavy vehicle moving on the road putting commuters at risk of mishap apart from loss of time while getting stuck in such jams,” said Ashu Singh, a resident of Golmuri who uses this stretch to reach his office in Mango.

Significantly, more than 30,000 passengers take around 400 buses daily for various destinations in Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha from the Sitaramdera bus terminus sprawling in 1.5 acre of land.

Bus operators though admit of problems of traffic congestion but express their helplessness. “We know that there are frequent traffic jams but there is no alternative. There is not enough space at the bus terminus to park the buses and we have to park buses outside the terminus. At times, bus operators also slow down to pick up passengers despite our order against doing so as passengers wait on approach roads to board the buses instead of coming to the bus terminus which is congested due to large number of buses,” said Upender Sharma, senior official of Jamshedpur Bus Owners Association.

Civic body, Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) claimed that such a situation will continue till the proposed inter-state bus terminus (ISBT) comes up in Mango.

 “There is not much space to accommodate the long distance buses, number of which are increasing regularly. This has forced buses to park even outside the terminus. The state government is working on construction of a modern and spacious ISBT along NH-33 in Mango and till that time we have to bear with such problems. The traffic police should also ensure that long distance buses do not halt on roads to pick-up passengers,” said a JNAC official.