Amid the traffic snarls reported all of last week across the city, traffic police and experts have said that the congestion issues are likely to continue this week as well due to the phase-wise unlock process of the lockdown-like curbs.
As soon as the restrictions were relaxed a little bit, a number of motorists had thronged the city streets, leading to major congestion across the city, some upto 60 and 75 minutes.
A senior traffic official told The Free Press Journal that these traffic conditions will prevail unless people stay put in their homes and comply with the rules.
"Traffic congestion and bumper-to-bumper traffic can be majorly attributed to the nakabandi and checkpoints, wherein police conduct checking of the motorists' AADHAAR card, their reason to step out and determine if it is valid. This process takes time, and meanwhile, there is a huge traffic build up on the road," the official said while clarifying the reason for unusual congestion.
Traffic police also said that while they are trying to speed up the process of checking, they cannot stop the nakabandi to facilitate smooth vehicular movement, as was highly criticized on the social networking websites. "There was a surge of 25 to 30 per cent vehicles recorded last week, when compared to the regular days during the lockdown period. We urge citizens to stay indoors if they do not fall in the permitted category or it is not an emergency to step out," a traffic police official said.
When consulted a transport expert on this issue, Cyrus J, he said that congestion will continue unless police execute a plan for better vehicular movement by creating corridors for those belonging to the essential service workers and the regular vehicles. "The one with valid passes, can at the least, reach their workplaces on time and not get caught up in the traffic, while the others can follow the procedure of being checked for validation and documentation," added the expert.
Meanwhile, a motorist, Sapna Bakshi, 32, who works at a pharmaceutical company, said that she loses out at least two hours in traffic when travelling from Oshiwara to Lower Parel, taking the Western Express Highway, which is already congested due to metro work and the nakabandi adds more to her woes.
source https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/mumbai-unlock-traffic-snarls-likely-to-continue-this-week
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