Samrala Chowk, a hub of confusion

Mohit Khanna 

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 15

The very mention of Samrala Chowk starts giving jitters to residents in the city.

Reason: Nothing has been done to streamline the flow of traffic here and vehicles virtually collide with each other. Thanks to the oblivious common sense of the authorities concerned and encroachments by shopkeepers on the Chandigarh Road, there appears to be no solution in sight.

While buses block the road leading to the Chandigarh Road, auto-rickshaw drivers use the road leading to Shinghar Cinema like a parking lot making it almost impossible for commuters to travel. 

There is an urgent need to deploy more traffic police at the roundabout for effective traffic management.

Flyover helped but no plan in place to avoid traffic snarls 

Ever since the flyover was made operational, commuters travelling towards Delhi heaved a sigh of relief. Earlier, the commuters travelling on the Delhi road had to undergo a harrowing time in the absence of a flyover. But even then the situation remains the same beneath the flyover. 

With an array of vehicles travelling in a single lane, Samrala Chowk gets blocked during the evening. Vehicle drivers have no clue where to go. 

While the construction of flyover was underway, the police had devised a plan and restrained direct crossing from the chowk to avoid traffic jams. But once the work got over and the flyover became operational, direct crossing resumed which is also the reason behind frequent traffic jams. 

No designated bus stop

In the absence of any designated place for buses to stop, buses ferrying passengers stop at the Samrala Chowk, which results in massive traffic jam. 

Naresh Kumar, a resident of Guru Arjan Dev Nagar, suggested that the buses be told to stop nearly 100 m away from either side of the chowk which would ease traffic chaos at the roundabout. 

“The problem multiplies when buses are parked one after the other blocking the entire road and leaving no space for other commuters,” he said. 

Who will bell the cat

The main problem being faced here is that no one has the courage to take the strong lobby of bus operators to task and tell them to park their buses at a distance from Samrala Chowk.

A majority of the buses plying on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana route belongs to political heavyweights. 

The police, too, are scared to ask the bus driver to move the vehicles further. The plight narrated by a traffic cop aptly exemplifies the situation.

“Our situation is like out of the frying pan and into the fire. A high-ranking official, who came under media scrutiny a few days ago, gave us strict direction not to allow buses to park near Samrala Chowk. Complying with the orders we stopped allowing buses to park on the chowk. But a driver of a bus owned by a close aide of senior politician approached us and said ‘maintain the status quo otherwise we will transfer you to a distant place in the state and you will have to remain away from your family and children. So, more often than not, officials wash off their hands by making us scapegoats,” a traffic cop said. 

Interestingly, after a few days things came back to square one and snarls still remain the same. 

Auto-walas rule  the roost

Auto-rickshaws are by far the major contributors to the traffic chaos at the Samrala Chowk. A visit to the road heading to Shingar Cinema leaves no doubt in one’s mind where autos are seen plying on the road with the “backing” of the police. Even if the autos have encroached upon the entire road, the policemen, instead of challaning the autos, look the other way. 

If a commuter asks an auto driver to move aside, he may land himself into trouble as auto drivers are not only abusive, but pick up fight even at the slightest of provocation. 

On September 23 last year, Girish Thakur, a clerk with a newspaper was mugged by an auto-rickshaw gang. Despite reporting the matter to the Division No. 2 police, no case has been registered so far.