Manmeet Gill
Amritsar, December 13
The heavy traffic on the Amritsar-Khemkaran road, which is a vital connection of the rural border belt with the holy city coupled with the abundant potholes, is a bane of commuters as they have to spend more time on travelling.
A large number of government and private employees working in the rural border belt of Tarn Taran district prefer to stay in Amritsar for comparatively better facilities. Many others travel on this road to get better medical facilities available here.
A Health Department employee said, “The usual driving speed on this road is 50 kmph or even less. It was upgraded to a national highway around nine years ago but the road is still the same.” He added that though the total length of road is around 60 km, it takes much longer to travel the same.
The commuters said the stretch of the road inside the city until CKD college of nursing is highly encroached and due to it the vehicles have to move at slow pace. The railway crossing at Bhagtanwala if closed make people stranded in their vehicles as piled up vehicles cause traffic jam.
The residents stated that a toll barrier has been installed near Mannan village. “There is no problem with paying Rs 45 but the problem is that the road from Amritsar to the toll barrier is very poor,” said Rajinder Singh who travels to Chabal daily. He added that Chabal is merely three km from the toll barrier.
The work on the remaining road is going on for the past many months. A side of the road has been dug up to expand its width. However as no safety measures have been taken to warn or guide drivers, especially during the night, the chances of a road accident are manifold.
