Traffic bottlenecks on the Batala road and the highway leading to Kartarpur Corridor have been removed as part of an anti-encroachment drive launched in the historic township of Kalanaur by its newly appointed SDM, Pallavi Mishra. Smooth flow of traffic has now been restored, much to the relief of area residents and other commuters.
Pertinently, Kalanaur is the place where Mughal emperor Akbar was crowned. District administration officials had been receiving regular complaints that traffic on the Batala and corridor roads had come to a standstill due to unauthorised constructions.
In October 2022, former Indian cricket team captain Bishen Singh Bedi and his family were trapped for hours while on their way to Kartarpur Corridor. It is believed that the cricketer had arranged a meeting with former Pakistani skipper Intikhab Alam at the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib across the border. However, he was stuck in traffic and got late.
This is not an isolated incident. Many visitors from abroad, too, have complained of a lot of time being wasted in navigating traffic.
Ever since then, several attempts had been made to get rid of the structures, but all these drives came to an abrupt end, with locals attributing the halt to “political pressure”.
Days after taking charge, Mishra called a meeting of local leaders and officials. Maujpur AAP Sarpanch Hardeep Matharu had established an unauthorised structure in front of his shop. He removed the structure himself, making the administration’s task — which at one time seemed onerous — easier. The ongoing operation, aided by earth-moving machines, involves demolishing illegal structures, removing roadside carts and stalls (‘khokas’) from footpaths, and tackling extensions made by shopkeepers.
According to sources, during the ongoing drive, politicians refrained from asking bureaucrats to “go slow” because the pressure from residents — who often got trapped in the traffic quagmire — was too much to be ignored. School buses, ambulances and even fire engines had a harrowing time in reaching destinations.
