Swat    -  The mechanism to control traffic in Mingora city has failed to deliver as traffic jams have become a routine, long queues of vehicles are seen on various roads, especially Fizaghat to People Chowk, Nishat Chowk to Taj Chowk and Kanju to Nawekaly Chowk.

About 3km distance is covered in hours due to continuous traffic jams while the traffic wardens look helpless to ensure smooth flow of traffic.

Citizens are not happy with the performance of the traffic department. Motorists and commuters in public transport remain stuck for hours due to traffic jams. According to available statistics, more than 3 lakh registered NCP vehicles and 14 thousand registered rickshaws are plying on roads in the city. While the exact figure of unregistered vehicles, rickshaws and public transports vehicles is not known. 

While talking to this scribe, Manzoor Kamal, an educationist, said that people have become patients of anxiety due to traffic jams. “Traffic system has been completely failed in the city. We remain stuck in traffic for hours daily. Authorities concerned are not paying heed to the sufferings of the people,” he said. 

Saqib, a shopkeeper, said: “In emergency if someone needs to reach hospital, how can it be possible as roads leading to hospital remain jammed for hours? Since transfer of the previous traffic in-charge from the area the commuters are facing this problem.” 

When contacted, Swat Traffic In-charge Syed Ahmed khan said that Swat was the business hub for the entire division. 

He said people from all seven districts came here on daily basis in routine. “Mingora city roads are jam-packed as there is no capacity to bear excessive load of vehicles. Hundreds of traffic wardens are deputed in the district to control the flow of traffic. I also supervise traffic all the day,” he added. 

Answering a question, he said that we had already launched an operation against the unregistered vehicles and rickshaws.

The residents of Swat have appealed to RPO Malakand Ijaz Khan and DPO SWAT Qasim Ali Khan to intervene in this most important matter and take concrete steps to resolve the issue so that the people’s stress could be decreased.