Traffic chaos at Kitchlew Chowk a nuisance for commuters

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Amritsar, December 26

Traffic chaos at Kitchlew Chowk, popularly known as Kacheri Chowk, has become a nuisance for commuters.

The inter-section assumes importance it leads to the District Courts, the District Administrative Complex, the Police Commissionerate and Saroop Rani Government College for Women. The cross falls just before the cantonment area. It also connects the city with the airport road, where a number of residential and commercial establishments have come up.

Vehicles get stuck in long queues for long, at times resulting in the wastage of precious time.. Photos: Sunil Kumar

These important offices are the reasons behind the heavy rush of vehicles at the intersection. Given the pressure of continuous flow of automobile units of different makes the surface of the intersection develops pits frequently.

Anil Vinayak, a resident of the nearby area, said the most prominent and busiest road crossing in the holy city witnessed constant traffic snarls. There seems to be no way forward for commuters visiting the court complex, the DC office and the airport. In the absence of any traffic light, the situation goes from bad to worse leading to long snarls.

“It is an irony that this route is frequented by officials, but none takes cognisance of traffic mess allround,” he commented ruefully.

The small roundabout without any traffic signals give motorists ample opportunity to violate traffic rules with impunity. The situation leads to a free-for-all situation. Law-abiding citizens feel the brunt of recurring traffic jams.

He said authorities should wake up from its slumber and install traffic signals immediately to end traffic woes faced by commuters to reach their destinations.

Traffic Police officials said the existence of several passes to adjoining localities at the intersection besides a roundabout offered a completely different situation altogether. For example, two lanes each to Ranjit Avenue, Cantonment road, Gumtala bypass, Mall Road and a lane to Rani Ka Bagh throw up a challenging situation. Traffic Police deploy staff to control the traffic flow.