Potholes, uneven surface hit e-bus service

Srinagar, Jan 14: Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL) launched the e-bus service with much hype to ease the travel of passengers across Srinagar.

However, the passengers are saying that the dilapidated roads in Srinagar have turned into death traps for them, which has taken the sheen away from the service.

In the past few weeks, there have been multiple incidents of e-buses falling into caved-in roads in the Downtown area of Srinagar. The passengers said that such incidents are frequently happening and posing a threat to them.

"Traveling in Srinagar, especially in Downtown, is risky. Such bus services are no good when roads are in shambles," Zahoor Ahmad, a passenger, said.

On Friday, a fresh video of an e-bus getting stuck in a caved-in road in the Downtown area surfaced. The passengers said they had a narrow escape due to dilapidated roads.

"Dug up roads are yet to be fixed across Downtown after completion of drainage projects at various places. The road caves in on a daily basis, which is life-threatening to passengers and commuters," said another passenger.

The passengers said that last month, in a separate incident, passengers of an e-bus had a narrow escape as a stretch of road they were traveling on caved in at the Khanyar locality of downtown. They said the e-bus was stuck in the dilapidated stretch, which also led to traffic jams.

"Roads at Khanyar, Nowpora, and other Downtown areas were dug up for the past few months for laying drainage pipes. The road has been filled up haphazardly, leading to frequent caving-in of the stretch," said Sahil Ahmed, a commuter.

The locals said that on a daily basis, public transport vehicles, e-buses, and two-wheelers get stuck in the potholes and caved-in roads of Srinagar. They said it is posing a threat to pedestrians as well. Several videos of such incidents surfaced on social media where drivers of e-buses, passenger buses and commuters said that they are finding it nearly impossible to commute on such bad roads.

Greater Kashmir did a series of stories on the issue. The officials from the SMC road division said that work on various Srinagar roads has been completed, and in the next phase, the work on Downtown roads will also be taken up soon.