Traffic snarls in Khodweni-Qaimoh a nightmare for commuters, shopkeepers

Traffic snarls in Khodweni-Qaimoh a nightmare for commuters, shopkeepers

Anantnag: Incessant traffic snarls in Khodweni and Qaimoh areas, along the Anantnag-Kulgam road, here in south Kashmir have become a regular nightmare for commuters as well as local residents. Ambulances stuck amid the traffic are a regular sight and one of the more serious consequences.
The road is an important one as it connects Anantnag district to not only Kulgam but also to Shopian district. The bottlenecks at Khodweni and Qaimoh, however, greatly increase the travel time for commuters and make the journey a testing one.
Kashmir Reader talked to many commuters who frequently travel between Anantnag and Kulgam or Shopian, and everyone acknowledged that the traffic jams in the Khodweni and Qaimoh areas have increased their travel time substantially.
“There is traffic on this route all seven days of the week because it’s the major road connecting these three south Kashmir districts. What should have been a drive of only half an hour between Anantnag and Kulgam often takes more than an hour and sometimes even two hours,” said Gulzar Ahmad, who works with a private firm and has to travel between Anantnag and Kulgam for sales pitches.
The locals that Kashmir Reader talked to said that the bridge at Kwaki Bazar in the area was the major cause of the traffic snarls. “It is a narrow bridge and hardly fit for the kind of traffic that this road is used to day in and day out,” a local shopkeeper, Shameem Ahmad, told Kashmir Reader.
He said that the shopkeepers were also bearing the brunt of this menace as there is almost never free space for parking vehicles before visiting a shop.
“There is no parking space available in this area and the roadside parking is all that the people have if they visit the market. With these traffic jams, there is almost never free space for anyone to park the car, for even a minute,” another shopkeeper, Muhammad Shafi, told Kashmir Reader, adding, “This is severely hurting our business.”
Kashmir Reader talked to Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kulgam Showkat Ahmad, who acknowledged that the traffic snarls were a major cause of concern.
“Yes, I am aware of that and we have been preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for a second bridge to be constructed in the area,” the DC said. He added that the second bride will greatly help in thinning out the traffic, “for we plan to use the bridges for one-way traffic.”
The DC assured that the issue was being pursued on a priority basis.

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