Hundreds caught in snarl for hours

PATNA: Hundreds of commuters are facing hardship everyday due to long traffic jam on the Gandhi Setu connecting north Bihar to the state capital. On Wednesday, the scene was no different and vehicles remained stranded for hours together on the bridge.
The situation could be gauged from the fact that even two-wheelers remained stuck in the traffic congestion for several hours in the morning.The office-goers were the worst hit as they were getting late due to the traffic jam on the bridge over the river Ganga.
The traffic personnel tried to divert the two wheelers and cars towards pontoon bridge but it failed to ease the traffic on the bridge. It took more than three hours to reach Hajipur in Vaishali district from Zero Mile in Patna.
The traffic snarl on the Gandhi Setu led to heavy congestion on the National Highway-30 between Zero Mile (Pahari Par) and Fatuha. The vehicles also remained stranded on the Patna-Gaya road. A long queue of vehicles was witnessed on the road between Dhanuki Mor and Deedarganj in Patna City also.
Several people were seen crossing the bridge on foot. A few of them were carrying their luggage either on shoulders or heads. Women and children had to face a lot of difficulty as they had to walk on foot for several kilometres to cross over the bridge to reach their destination. “I have to catch my train at Patna junction but I have been caught in the traffic jam on the bridge. I am running short of time. So I decided to walk on foot to cross over the bridge,” said Manish Kumar Bhartiye, (35), a resident of Darbhanga.
Bhartiye, a resident of Madhopatti village near Darbhanga, was walking on foot along with his wife and two minor children. They had alighted from the bus in the middle of the bridge and were seen proceeding towards Patna from Hajipur side.
Bharaiye, who works in a shoe factory in Kanpur, is not alone. Sunil Saurabh, who works with a private firm in Haryana, echoed similar views. “I left home in Samastipur district early in the morning to avoid traffic jam on the bridge but in vain,” a visibly upset Saurabh said.
The traffic police, however, blamed the technical snag in heavy vehicles for the traffic congestion. They also accused the drivers’ tendency to overtake vehicles on the bridge. “The traffic on the eastern flank of the bridge has been banned for rehabilitation,” a police official posted at Gaighat checkpost said.
SP (Traffic D Amarkesh along with other traffic personnel was spotted trying to ease the movement of vehicles on the bridge. However, the situation remained almost the same throughout the day.
Hajipur Sadar SDPO Raghav Dayal said, “There is a huge rush of vehicles on the Gandhi Setu due to the wedding season. This has compounded the problem on the setu.”
Bid to regulate Setu traffic
Patna divisional commissioner Sanjay Agarwal said on Wednesday that a detailed strategy has been chalked out to regulate traffic on the Gandhi Setu and other parts of the state capital. The divisional commissioner said the plying of sand-laden trucks on the Gandhi Setu has completely been banned and empty trucks coming from Hajipur side towards Patna will be diverted through the JP Setu.
In addition, separate police checkposts will be set up both in Patna side and the Hajipur side of the bridge to keep a surveillance on the movement of vehicles. “Lane driving systems will be put in place and those flouting the rules or found overtaking the vehicles will be penalized,” Agarwal told this newspaper
The district administration has also decided to launch a special drive to remove encroachments on roads. The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting attended by the divisional commission Agarwal and IG, Patna range, Sanjay Singh.