The City of Srinagar is getting choked. Everywhere on the roads, we see single-occupancy vehicles inching past each other. Though there are bicycle paths very few people use it for daily commute to office, college, or school. The bicycling paths are mainly used by a tiny majority of bicycling enthusiasts for morning and evening rides. The transport scenario of Kashmir valley it appears is back to square one.
There was a talk of Srinagar metro being functional by 2025. We are in the middle of the 2024 and a metro riding through the heart of Srinagar looks a far-fetched prospect. There is no talk of the metro in the press. There is, however, a lot of talk going on about a couple of new flyovers. Having had our brushes with the Jahangir Chowk-Barzullah flyover we are well aware that this flyover business is a time-consuming business.
At the same time, the apple trade is thriving as is tourism and the remittances sent home by the non-resident Kashmiris in various Gulf countries means that every other family in Kashmir now owns a car. In some families, there are now as many cars as there are family members. One theory is that the affluent and the novae riche class does not want to be too dependent on unreliable public transport, especially during the evening hours.
River transport was an effective way to manage the city’s transport woes. Medium-size ferries could be run from Pampore to the wier in Chattabal. The ease of navigation on this stretch is the most feasible. It can mean thousands of fewer cars on the road, lesser traffic jams, and less pollution. The ferry system is effectively used as a mode of transport in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, and Uttar Pradesh. If it has worked in these states there is no reason why it won’t work in the Srinagar city. Greater problems demand innovative solutions and river transport is the best solution for the traffic problem in the Srinagar city.
