TO APPRECIATE the hurdles addressed by the traffic personnel, ‘The Hitavada’ initiated a series ‘Chaos on Roads’. For traffic police it is a hard nut to crack to manage the traffic flow in the city with only handful of available traffic personnel. The traffic cops are putting out all the stops to navigate the traffic snarls amid poorly functioning traffic signals in the smart city with only 36 working from a total of 69 signals. The management of these traffic signals is adding to the woes of Traffic Department with the inter-departmental red tape labyrinth halting the management of traffic. Further, the bottleneck situations with potholes are giving excruciating experience to the commuters along with traffic police.

 

The struggle of our Smart City in providing adequate space for parking is narrowing the roads along with the debris of construction that is being on roads. The ongoing construction of various projects that has already crossed the deadline is further exasperating the traffic chaos for public and traffic police. The slumbering authorities are turning blind eye over the conditions of rattling Smart City. With the roads of the city in a dilapidated state along with encroachments and defunct status of traffic signals, ‘The Hitavada’ also reached out to the denizens where they expressed their plight while talking to the newspaper. Though, they highlighted various aspects of their, they resonated their tales of hardship while travelling on the roads. Amit Sharma, an employee working in a private firm, lashed out at the poor administration while registering his objection over the decaying condition of roads. While showing his two-wheeler, he said, “Look at it. Due to the roads, the tyres have been punctured numerous times, causing an extra penny to be incurred on the repairing works.” He further mentioned that not just puncture, the shock ups of the two-wheeler have been damaged to a great extent. While expressing concern over the roads, he also said that a surge has been also recorded in the accidents due to the same. An old woman, Shanta Devi also expressed her plight by saying that the deplorable condition of roads makes it difficult for her to walk on it.

 

“With the roads being in such conditions, it becomes extremely difficult for an individual to walk on roads especially for those who are suffering from several ailments.” She also mentioned that during downpour, the situations get exasperated with mud and filth all over. Also, several times, the risk of slipping also aggravates in such situations. Another individual, Mohammad Rais, said that it has become nearly impossible to commute properly in the city due to the deplorable conditions of roads. He further slammed the Government of corruption and also referred to a long list of accidents proving his point. He also expressed his concern over roads in the city and called for better management and co-ordination of the concerned officials to combat the same. Another resident of the city, Jiya Jay Singh took the administration on crosshairs over defunct traffic signals in the city. She alleged that traffic signals are not working at various intersections in the city. Many of them seem like working on their own will, posing additional hurdles to the commuters. According to her, the problem also finds relevance since traffic personnel are also absent at several intersections turning the whole thing a menace for the denizens.

 

Aniket Gohrse, a student waiting to board his bus at the Board Office bus station, said that everyone in the city is affected by this problem. Sharing an anecdote, he said, “A few days ago, an auto had overturned at the Jyoti Talkies square due to the sorry condition of the road but no one gathered courage to question the authorities over such condition of roads”. He also mentioned that similar conditions also happened at Board Office Square where an accident was averted due to the vigilance of the driver. Reportedly, the accident was due to the tyre getting fixed at a pothole on the road. Seeking anonymity, people also suspected a nexus between the government and the contractors. They said that the government wants to fill up its pockets, referring to it is as corruption.