Eid is just a day or two away. A festival like this in Kashmir means all cars on the roads, and all people in the markets. For the government it means extra responsibility. In a run up to Eid, markets are full of people and that results in the crisis of the management of space. The pavements see people jostling into each other; even the roads remain filled with people causing impediments in the movement of traffic. In fact, it is the vehicular rush that asks for real management from the concerned departments.

Since our public transport system is very poor, the result of this is that people pour into main market spaces driving their own cars. The roads leading to these markets are not wide enough to take the entire volume of cars. The result is long gridlocks. What could ordinarily take ten minutes takes an hour. What adds to the problem is inadequate human resource to manage the crossings. The traffic police department falls way short of personnel on these days. What the government needs to do on such occasions is to do a scientific survey, feeding in the data of previous years, and come to a realistic calculation on how many people are actually needed on ground to manage this enhanced rush of vehicles.

Equally important is the issue of parking. Even on a routine day parking has become a headache. But on an occasion like eid it is way too difficult to address this problem. There needs to be some out of box solution to bring ease to people. One way of making difference is to utilise the currently available spaces optimally, besides creating some temporary spaces for parking on these days. Another way to mange the rush would be to work on public transport. Though a long term ask, but on these days government can arrange more vehicles for areas that are known for Eid rush.

What also can make a difference is to create an awareness among general public on how to drive, park and use pedestrian spaces on these days. If people behave in a civilised manner, some of the problems we encounter on roads and in the markets these days might not occur at all. So a concerted attempt can yield good dividends.

© Greater Kashmir