Road recarpeting work troubles commuters

The re-carpeting work on a stretch of less than 500m near Vallah bypass led to long traffic snarl-ups on Sunday. The failure of the concerned authorities to pre-warn commuters about the civil work going on the stretch ahead near Vallah bypass led to harassment of commuters.

The bypass falls on the four lane road which connects Jalandhar-Amritsar GT Road to Attari Border. It offers a passage to tourist vehicles commuting on the stretch to avoid congested internal roads of the city.

In absence of any government support for warning about the road work ahead or traffic diversion commuters, a large number of tourists, find themselves caught in the mess.

Gurnam Singh, a commuter, said he was carrying an ailing family member in his car to get him admitted to a leading private hospital in Amritsar. However, his vehicle got held up in the traffic jam. He said the situation became harassing as traffic did not move ahead for nearly half an hour.

Commuters demanded that road diversion should be a must in such cases and barricades should be installed at turns before the spot.

Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said the re-carpeting was undertaken today. He said since the temperature was down and visibility poor at night they were forced to carry out the repair work at night. He said they did not seek the assistance of the traffic police to divert the traffic.