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Traffic movement eases in Nainital
People in and around Nainital are heaving a sigh of relief as number of tourist vehicles entering the hill town on weekends came down to 600 to 700 from 2,000 to 3,000
People in and around Nainital are heaving a sigh of relief as number of tourist vehicles entering the hill town on weekends came down to 600 to 700 from 2,000 to 3,000.
Traffic movement has improved in Nainital since last week, brining relief from traffic chaos owing to large-scale tourist influx and limited parking space.
According to locals and authorities, there are many reasons for this improvement. First, traffic police focused on traffic bottlenecks on approach roads towards Nainital. Second, the tourist influx has come down.
Over the last few weekends, a significant number of tourists was coming here for three to five days due to which number of vehicles entering the town and occupying parking spaces would increase cumulatively.
Over the last few days, the number of tourists entering and leaving Nainital has almost balanced.
Third, after the high court’s tough stand on traffic management, the district administration swung into action and started stopping tourist vehicles without advance parking arrangements from entering the town.
Tough measures followed the court issued show cause notices to senior officials of the district, including district magistrate and senior superintendent of police, on why traffic management was not being improved in Nainital despite its directions.
People and taxi operators, with whom HT interacted, said traffic situation has witnessed improvement compared to the last few weeks of “traffic madness” in and around Nainital.
“Within Nainital city, there is no more traffic chaos. It was crazy traffic over last few weeks. The situation has seen a lot of betterment. On the approach roads, vehicles have to wait a little bit to enter the city. I think that is ok, given the scenario in last few weeks,” said Aarif Ali, a local taxi driver.
But is it a temporary relief? Mohammad Jalees Vicky, another local, said these days the tourist vehicles were not being stopped outside Nainital as there was space in parking lots here to accommodate more tourist vehicles.
“But in the long run, the traffic management can be improved only with the creation of spacious parking spaces both within and on the outskirts of Nainital,” he said.
