Commuters face tough time due to poor road condition in Amritsar

Poor condition of road connecting the holy city with Amritsar-Sri Ganaganagar National Highway (NH-15) is giving a tough time to commuters as driving on this 3-km stretch is not considered an easy job and is causing harassment to commuters.

Poor condition of road connecting the holy city with Amritsar-Sri Ganaganagar National Highway (NH-15) is giving a tough time to commuters as driving on this 3-km stretch is not considered an easy job and is causing harassment to commuters.

Vehicles stuck in a traffic jam near a railway crossing in Amritsar on Sunday.(HT Photo)

It is notable that after NH-1, the Amritsar-Sri Ganaganagar National Highway is the second most important road in the city and connects Amritsar to southern part of the country. The vehicles from entire Malwa region and Rajasthan take this road making is one of the busiest routes.

As commuters cross the Gharwali PCPCL station, they have to make way through a narrow road. The roadsides are not maintained and have big potholes. As the road is not fully tarred, dust adds to the incontinence of the people.

The commuters’ problems increase once they reach the railway crossing, where vehicles are stuck in traffic jams.

The state government, so far, has not made any plans to fix the problem being faced by people. Widening the road or building over bridge is not on agenda of the administration. “The railway department can make a plan of building an over bridge once the state government decides to take some steps,” said a railway employee deployed at the railway crossing.

Despite unprecedented traffic jams, there were only two cops deployed to control the traffic. Nearby shopkeepers said only two cops are deployed there to control the traffic. They also said the buses that are mostly owned by the ruling government and passes through this road have further worsened the situation as its drivers and conductors do not follow any traffic rules.

They added that government was implementing project of widening the national highway, but it was ignoring this portion of the road which needed to be reconstructed.