Tarffic chaos in Jammu City

As the cavalcade of President Partibha Devi Singh Patil moved to and fro, from Rajbhawan to the venues, which she was scheduled to visit, complete traffic chaos and confusion prevailed in the city of temples since early this morning.

Huge traffic jams were witnessed on roads connecting the venues besides the crossings from where the cavalcades of VVIP were scheduled to pass or passed, due to non-predefined traffic restrictions. The traffic cops raised barricades and parked their vehicles in the middle of the roads abruptly totally choking the traffic flow even half-an-hour before the passing of VVIP cavalcade. They not even allowed the pedestrains to cross the roads and crossings.

There was total commotion in the city of temples due to unexpected and unplanned traffic restrictions. The people failed to understand which route they should follow in order to reach their respective destinations. The worst affected were the students and office goers besides attendants of the patients admitted in Government Medical College (GMC) and SMGS hospital.

The vehicular traffic was initially disrupted on the route between Raj Bhawan and Raghunath Temple whereas the Raghunath Temple Chowk was virtually converted into a fortress with huge deployment of cops, para-military forces, Jammu & Kashmir Armed Police (JKAP) cops, policemen in civvies and men of intelligence agencies. The whole area was declared out of bounds for the commoners and even the pilgrims and tourists from other states were not allowed to pay their obeisance prior to President’s visit. The approaching roads were sealed with parking of police vehilce in the middle of the road and erection of barricades around midnight and sharp shooters were deployed on the rooftops of adjoining buildings. The temple premises and its surroundings were thoroughly frisked by the cops and no stranger was allowed to enter the premises.

The traffic on the roads and crossing approaching Raghunath Bazar from Raj Bhawan was stopped resulting in inconvenience to locals. Huge traffic jam was witnessed at Maheshpura, and approaching roads to Flyover Crossing connecting Brigadier Rajinder Singh Chowk for an hour in the morning.

The cops reportedly did not allow the shopkeepers of Raghunath Bazar to open their shops prior to VVIP’s visit with curfew like situation all around. The shopkeepers opened their business establishments only after departure of President. Patil then flew to Katra to attend the 3rd Convocation SMVDU and after her return in the afternoon, similar traffic restrictions were seen in the city. An Ambulance bearing registration number JK02AD-6188 carrying a body was stuck up in the jam besides other vehicles.

In the evening, again similar traffic chaos was seen during VVIP’s to and fro visit to Jammu University to attend Dogra Rattan Awards function.

As per rough estimate, 60 percent commercial vehicles remained off the road here while many people opted not to come out of their houses due to traffic commotion.

However, three-tier security grid remained in place keeping in view VVIP movement in the city of temples.

Oldest Shopping Centers in Srinagar

With the number of shopping malls and markets adding up each day across the Valley, the oldest shopping centers seem to have been lost into oblivion. Maharaj Gunj market happens to be one such market which is gradually being lost to history. The market, located in old city along the banks of river Jhelum, has been established between 1868-1870’s by then Maharaja of Kashmir, Maharaja Ranbir Singh.Before the establishment of Maharaj Gunj, market surrounding the Jamia Masjid mosque was leading market when Kashmir was ruled by Sultans.“Jamia Masjid was the main market of the Valley. Since old city was only civilized part of the Valley, Jamia market was main market,” said Abdul Gaffar, an old shopkeeper at Jamia Majid.The market would be visited by people from city outskirts as well to shop.“On Fridays, people will throng to this place to shop and pray as well,” he adds.However when Maharaja Ranbir Singh ruled Kashmir, Maharaja Gunj was set up to pay the money lended from businessmen in Punjab fro sales deed. “During the sale deed of 1846 of Kashmir, Maharaja had lended Rs 16 lakh from businessmen in Punjab. But since Maharaja could not pay it back, he asked those traders to do business in Kashmir in exchange for the debit,” says Zareef Ahmad Zareef, writer.

A full fledged market was set up for the Punjab traders. The name of the market was changed from “Azz Baboon trag”, named after one of the richest person of the areas, to Maharaj Gunj The shops are given to the traders along with few rooms for residing and market started. It flourished as the leading market of the Valley, giving a hit to Jamia market. People started thronging to Maharaj Gunj for shopping and trading. Its location at the bank of river Jhelum, which facilitated trade, added to its business. Valley’s first police station was also started in Maharaj Gunj, named S.R Gunj police station. The traders were allotted land for building residence, namely Shivpora, Wazir bagh and Rammunshi Bagh.

However the development of the Srinagar city and coming up of new markets gave a below of Maharaj Gunj. Additionally, the government inattention towards the development of the market and facilities pushed Maharaj Gunj into stupor. “We do not have proper transport system which is a major hurdle. How can people come here when we have no transport? ”said Abdul Gaffar.He alleged government for ignoring the historic market “They are building new mall s and market but no one pays attention to Maharaj Gunj which is a historicplace,” says another shopkeeper at Maharaj Gunj.