Unending traffic jams add to woes of Psychiatric patients at Srinagar’s IMHANS
Srinagar, Apr 10: As tourists flock to Badamwari, the almond garden in the summer capital, patients seeking treatment at the adjacent Psychiatric Diseases Hospital face unspoken ordeals in their commute.
The narrow, 10-foot road is a regular traffic jam hotspot, an issue that remains unaddressed amidst multiple road widening projects.
Located in the densely populated area under the foothills of Hari Parbat, the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS) Srinagar, the hub of mental health research and healthcare delivery, faces significant hurdles in access. The area in Rainawari, where it is located, also hosts Badamwari Almond Garden, Makhdoom Sahib (RA) Shrine, Gurdwara Chatti Padshahi, and Central Jail, in addition to the thousands of families who live in the area, plus the businesses that operate in the area. For all these people, the only access road is a narrow 10-foot-wide one, which cannot even allow two vehicles to pass each other from opposite sides. This results in massive traffic jams on most days. The traffic snarls are exacerbated in spring when Badamwari receives a massive rush of almond blossom enthusiasts, and during the revered days at Makhdoom Sahib (RA) Shrine and Gurdwara Chatti Padshahi.
The thousands of patients that seek treatment at IMHANS and their attendants sometimes take hours from the main road to the hospital due to the huge traffic on the road, a doctor told Greater Kashmir. His assertion was echoed by a patient who arrived late for his MRI at the hospital, and lamented that it took him 70 minutes to traverse the traffic on a route that is just a kilometer or so. The local residents also spoke bitterly about the daily vehicular jams on the road. “Our life has slowed down due to bumper-to-bumper traffic on this road at peak hours. Our children get late to school and from school almost every day,” a local resident said.
Not just the connecting road, the main road from Saida Kadal to Nigeen is also a spot for vehicular congestion. The JLNM Hospital in Rainawari, which is a major healthcare institute in the area, is severely affected by the logjam. The main road, although widened, has many bottlenecks, and electric poles right in the middle of the roads.
Earlier this month, the CEO SSCL, Dr Ovais Ahmed directed the traffic department to ensure smooth vehicular movement to hospitals with focus on SMHS Hospital and SKIMS Soura. He spoke about employing the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) for the purpose. However, the not so centrally located hospitals like IMHANS and JLNM were not spoken about in the traffic and road management planning.
Tanvir Sadiq, the elected MLA from the area, told Greater Kashmir that long-term solutions for removing the bottlenecks on the roads were being explored. “While the area is set to be macadamised, I am also exploring options to remove bottlenecks. The removal of poles fromthe Rainawari Chowk stretch was actually aimed at easing traffic flow,” he said.
