1 Hour To Cross 500 Meters As Encroachment, Traffic Mess Choke Bandipora Market

Muqeet Mubashir

Bandipora, Sept 01: To cross 500-meter distance in the Bandipora Market, it takes more than an hour; no matter you are travelling in a car or on foot, thanks to shopkeepers and street vendors who have encroached upon footpaths and roads.

          The district administration especially the Municipal Council Bandipora (MCB) have miserably failed to remove encroachments from either sides of footpaths and roads in the main market, thus affecting the vehicular and pedestrian movement.

          Locals say elderly, children and women are always at risk while walking or crossing the road as encroachments by shopkeepers and street vendors galore the market. Similar scenes can be witnessed in the Khadim market, which was once an alternative route when the town was rebuilt under a Master Plan in 1962-63.

          Locals complain that the Municipal Council Bandipora seems to be hand in glove with the encroachers as no action is being taken. The traffic situation in the town turns very bad during morning and evening hours while the administration seems least bothered and traffic police find it convenient to only fine those who visit the market for essential purchases.

          Locals say they are surprised to see the response of the administration as they either don’t want to resolve the issue or don’t want to find the real reasons behind the choking of the town.

          “The town had the best road connectivity, drainage and all other facilities but successive regimes instead of improving it, couldn’t even preserve the actual master plan,” says Irshad Ahmad, a local resident.

          Senior citizens in the know of 1963 Master Plan told Kashmir Convener that Bandipora was among the few old towns that have two roads running parallel to the main market. But influential traders – who are politically connected, including trade union leaders – have encroached roads, constructed washrooms and even shops on even on fire gaps, choking the entire town.

 

          “Both parallel roads from Nowpora to Old Jamia Masjid can be used for light vehicles and autos to ease the burden on the main road. It doesn’t need any rocket science to find solutions. Only the removal of a couple of encroachments on these roads will resolve the entire matter,” said a former civil servant. “It requires strong conviction to resolve the issue and a political will, nothing else. Solution is simple”.

          When a massive blaze gutted much of Bandipora in the winter of 1962, the then prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad saw an opportunity to rebuild the town under a master plan, the very first in the state. But nearly five decades later, the northern Kashmir town is one of the most underdeveloped in the Union Territory.

          Following the fire that reduced Bandipora to ashes in December 1962, Bakhshi personally visited the town and promised to rebuild it, approving Rs 10 lakh on the spot. By next year a master plan was ready.

          According to officials this was the first such master plan envisaged in the state for Bandipora as a model town with all possible facilities like parks, planned construction, and sewerage and drainage system across the town.

          “This was environment-friendly as it had a terraced garden locally known as Nishat Park, similar to that of Nishat Bagh in Srinagar, proper sewerage and drainage system was built across the town. Construction of houses, shops, roads, and inner links was carried out in a planned manner. Fire gaps and an alternate road were also constructed in the main town, making it a model town,” a senior official said.

          However, locals say the basic idea of the model town was slowly destroyed as it expanded in an unplanned manner. The only remnants of the state’s first master plan on the ground are Nishat Park, Eidgah and the Town Hall, which now houses the Municipal Council office. The office itself now presents a shabby picture, speaking volumes about the carelessness of the authorities concerned.

          Locals urge the Deputy Commissioner to personally visit the market and find out herself. “She should keep the previous master plan map with her else Municipal Council Officers or other departments will not present the true picture before her as they are the ones who have allowed such a massive encroachment of the main market and inner lanes of the town”.

          Shopkeepers in town while speaking to Kashmir Convener say their business has been badly hit owing to the traffic mess and the crackdown on “illegal” parking by the traffic police. “We are paying the price of the inefficiency of the district admin,” said a shopkeeper Zahoor Malik.

          “No customer dares to enter the market as they are not allowed to park their vehicles in front of a shop that too in absence of a parking space in the market. Customers prefer to purchase goods from town peripheries,” he explained.

          Shopkeepers also blame successive trade union leaders and civil society members for failing to present the case before the administration properly. “Influential shopkeepers have themselves encroached on roads, so it is expected that they won’t talk about the real issue,” locals say.

          From pavements meant for pedestrians to the main market, including the Khadim market, encroachments dot the township while locals allege concerned officials in the Municipality are running a “nexus” with the encroachers.

          Some years ago, the administration had decided to divert the light vehicular traffic through Khadim market, However, the entire stretch of the Khadim Market was encroached by shopkeepers while the MCB failed to even issue notices to them. Locals say if the Khadim Market and the other parallel road is opened for light vehicles, the frequent traffic mess in the main market will be reduced to a large extent.

Shopkeepers said even the irrigation canal flowing through the market has been encroached and shops raised on it while both the concerned departments haven’t taken any action.

          While the authorities have always claimed to have launched anti-encroachment drives, they prove to be a hoax as real encroachers in the main town have never been touched.

Residents allege the Municipal officials take bribes from shopkeepers who have turned their shops into stores and use footpaths to display their goods especially in the Khadim market.