Ghaziabad: Buses stopping haphazardly on NH-9 to drop and pick up passengers next to Noida Sector 62 have been causing daily snarls on the stretch for years. It’s a problem that has defied a fix despite National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) being aware of it and the policing system in both Ghaziabad and Noida becoming more systematic with upgrades as commissionerates.Now, the Ghaziabad district magistrate is taking a shot at solving it. At a road safety committee meeting on Thursday, DM Ravindra Mandar asked NHAI officials about the congestion, ordered them to immediately remove the illegal pickup points and submit a report. He said commuters should not suffer because of poor planning by agencies responsible for maintaining major roads. “Any lapse that creates a risk for commuters cannot be ignored,” he said.Under UP Roadways rules, boarding and deboarding are permitted only at designated locations. On NH-9, these are essentially on the service lanes. The buses line up parallel to each other, blocking the lanes, resembling a bus terminal that someone forgot to move off the highway. Passengers haul bags over the four-foot central divider and cut through speeding traffic to reach them. There are only two designated bus stands on the route, but the buses stop at multiple points, contributing to the problem.A resident of Supertech Icon, Kumar Anupam, said he was stuck in traffic on NH-9 for 30 minutes on Thursday. He reached his office in Nehru Place quite late that day. “I am so fed up with this congestion that I have begun to leave early,” he said. “The buses stop wherever they want to and we get stuck behind them.”The DM, at the road safety committee meeting, also expressed displeasure over the lack of preparedness of NHAI engineers and directed officials to ensure that road-related works do not become a source of prolonged congestion. He asked the department to coordinate with other agencies and ensure that measures are implemented.“NHAI can address the infrastructure-related problems on NH-9, such as illegal cuts, access points and bus-stop facilities. We have already acted against more than 100 illegal cuts and access points and deployed traffic marshals to help regulate traffic. However, enforcing traffic rules and ensuring overall compliance falls under the jurisdiction of the traffic department,” an NHAI official saidHe ordered the officials to complete construction of a loop near Dasna by Sept. The work was stalled due to the kanwar yatra. “Officials have been asked to document a standard operating procedure so that agencies can respond quickly whenever road construction, diversions, parking or other activities threaten to disrupt traffic,” said an official.The DM also ordered strict action against motorists violating traffic rules. He said the driving licences of habitual violators should be cancelled and vehicles seized.The officials told the DM that the number of accident black spots in the district has fallen sharply. The administration has directed traffic and PWD to conduct a fresh survey to identify new black spots that may have emerged because of changes in traffic patterns or road conditions. He said the reduction in black spots should not lead to complacency and that authorities must continue monitoring roads regularly.The administration has directed NHAI and other departments, including PWD, to submit compliance reports after implementing the instructions. The focus will be on removing bottlenecks, improving coordination between agencies and ensuring safer and smoother movement for commuters on NH-9 and other major roads in the district.
