A Ghaziabad resident decided to take a traffic inspector for a ride around his neighbourhood in his SUV on Tuesday to show him the daily traffic chaos. Pradeep Gupta, a resident of Shalimar Garden, wanted Inspector JS Pathak to witness the unruly e-rickshaws blocking main roads, encroachments on the carriageway, and experience the congestion affecting their lives.
They drove from the Shalimar Garden police station to the power station, around Chandrashekhar Azad Park, from Shiv Chowk to the ESI Hospital, and ended in the Punjabi Dhaba area. The inspector was in the car with Gupta for over two hours.
Shalimar Garden is a relatively new residential locality that began taking shape in the late 1960s, with small labour settlements emerging due to growing industrial units in the Sahibabad industrial area and its proximity to Delhi. Most buildings are low-rise builder apartments with ground floors dedicated to shops and upper floors as residences.
The shops on the lower floors gave way to footpath stalls and hawkers. Push carts, squatters, and encroachers block every bit of the footpaths. Some footpath stalls spill onto the main carriageway, reducing the 80-foot road to 50 feet or less. Pathak noted congestion near Punjabi Dhaba, Vardhman Nursing Home, and Rajesh Pilot Chowk, as well as high traffic volume and disorderly vehicle movement at Bharat Mata Chowk. He acknowledged the need for effective traffic management at Mangal Pandey Chowk.
Gupta pointed out traffic around DAV School, leading to chaos at the locality's entry point from the 150-foot-wide Wazirabad road. Disorganised parking and e-rickshaw operations add to the mess.
The officer was told about traffic disruptions during local markets on Fridays, Wednesdays, and Sundays. “The lack of enforcement at these choke points leaves us in a pickle. Our patience has worn out,” Gupta said. “It's high time that the traffic police take accountability.”
Another resident, Madan Mohan, said encroachment on footpaths near schools and hospitals leaves no space for pedestrians. “Moreover, we need urgent redress from the e-rickshaw menace. They ply haphazardly and stop in the middle of the road to drop and pick up passengers,” he added.
Inspector Pathak said his department is committed to implementing measures to improve traffic management. For immediate redress, he announced plans to deploy personnel at critical entry points to facilitate smoother movement.
