Be it rain or sunshine, traffic chaos is nothing new to the city. Unfortunately, there is nothing to be surprised about. According to traffic police officials, almost 70% signals in the city are non-functional, making lives of both commuters and traffic cops difficult. The situation worsens in monsoon.
According to the latest figures from traffic police, 101 of the total 138 traffic signals are non-functional. “This means that almost 70% signals are not working. We have already discussed the issue with officials of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation,” said DH Parmar, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) –traffic.
If AMC officials are to be believed, the problem will be solved in near future. However, it will take at least four to five months to finish the entire project of repairing signals and installing vehicle tracking cameras on the signal poles at major junctions in the city. AMC and traffic police recently conducted a comprehensive survey of all junctions and roads in the city. “We found 84 junctions that either needed a new signal or repair of the existing ones. Of these, 25 are on Ashram Road. In the first phase, we will repair or install new signal poles at 24 junctions on Ashram Road, CG Road, BRTS route and Maninagar in a month,” said an AMC official.
In the next phase, 24 more junctions will have signals within five weeks. The remaining 36 will be covered in one-and-a-half months after that. “As per our plan, all the 84 junctions will be covered by December 2013. Once all signals are made functional, we will install vehicle tracking cameras,” said the official, who is in charge of traffic signal work.
Earlier in May, AMC had approved a proposal to install CCTV cameras at traffic junctions at a cost of Rs20.17 crore. These cameras are specially designed ‘vehicle speed detection cameras’, which can automatically detect over-speeding of vehicles or errant drivers and send the video feed to the police control room. According to the proposal, the vehicle detection cameras will be installed at 186 points, including 84 junctions on common roads and 102 on BRTS route in the city.
