Srinagar, Nov 07: The people residing around the Goenka Station on Monday expressed agony against the Srinagar Municipal Corporation for lifting garbage in the busy hours, thus causing traffic jams.
The people in various areas of Srinagar complained that the SMC was lifting the garbage near the GB Goenka School from 9 to 10 in the morning, which is the official time when schoolchildren and employees are venturing out to their respective schools and other destinations.
According to locals, SMC garbage collecting vehicles block the road to lift trash there.
Altaf Ahmad, a local of Lal-Bazar, told Rising Kashmir, “Since the authorities changed school timing, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in municipal limits. Since then, the students are facing difficulties at this garbage station. He continued the 15-minute journey is taking 40–60 minutes and needed the authorities’ attention.
He said all vehicles coming from Lal-Bazar, Hawal, Botakadal, Dargah, Habak, and other adjoining areas getstuck at this place, and it takes some times hours to clear the road as the SMC is pressing machinery from 9 to 10 a.m. to remove the garbage.
Commenting on these issues, the Chief Sanitation Officer (CSO) of Srinagar Municipal Corporation told Rising Kashmir that they always try to clear this site before 10 a.m. to provide hassle-free movement to the general public. “In the coming days we will try to lift the garbage before 9 a.m. to provide hassle-free movement to the school-going children and others.”
On being asked about the traffic jam at his junction, the officer said that it is the school buses and the locals who park their vehicles on the roadside that causes the traffic jam.
The parents have urged the SMC’s sanitation wing to remove the garbage at this site at the earliest possible time to provide relief to thousands of people, especially the school-going children.
“In the coming months, the garbage station will be permanently removed from this place,” the CSO officer said.
