With the reopening of schools after long winter vacations, traffic chaos has returned in Kashmir valley. This time it is believed to be acute due to Smart City construction works. In many areas roads have not been cleared and building materials lie scattered everywhere. Besides passengers who have to reach offices and their workplaces, it is the school children and students of colleges, universities and other institutions who bear the brunt of frequent snarl-ups. School authorities keep on shifting the timings to avoid students getting caught in traffic jams. In the afternoon it is difficult to move around in the city due to a large number of school buses that occupy major portion of the roads. In a span of two hours most of the schools in the city are off which leads to the traffic build up in the city. The most choked localities happen to be pockets near schools. Large buses of some popular schools make it difficult for the rest to maneuver their vehicles with ease. All of these schools are private institutions which also provide the transport facility to the students. Apart from the buses, a large number of smaller vehicles and autos can be seen parked outside the schools and on roads to pick up the children. These schools do not allow their parking spaces for vehicles except their own buses. With the result vehicles get lined up on both sides of the road near and ahead of schools thereby restricting the movement which at times takes more than an hour to be normal again. School education department has shown its proclivity recently on several issues related to education. However, there have been no directions regarding the traffic mess due to school rush. Also, wet weather is among the reasons to make the situation worse in Kashmir. While wrong parking is universal and unending phenomenon in Kashmir, the causes mentioned earlier don’t do any better. Parents who go to pick up their children from schools are likely, as has been witnessed, to park their cars on road with the notion that it takes only few minutes. So far authorities have not paid any attention to the parking requirements near schools where snarl-ups usually happen. School authorities also shun from their due responsibilities and put it on the shoulders of parents. The traffic authorities and school education department must take a strong note of such flouting of rules and responsibilities. There seem to be limited choices for authorities to manage traffic given the problems due to schools – like shifting campuses or changing timings based on zoning of school campuses. As we understand, creating new parking spaces requires infrastructure development, but ensuring that drivers only stop at proper bus stops does not need any additional resource. The cops on duty just have to act, and how hard can it be?
