Staff Reporter :
Will it finally end traffic gridlock?
Traffic control in city is going from bad to worse despite Nagpur Police being equipped with independent Command and Control Centre. The facility is set to be formally dedicated by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday. The programme is at 6 pm and on the occasion, Fadnavis will also return the seized material to the owners.
The Centre was jointly set-up by Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL) and Nagpur City Police adjoining the city police Control Room at Civil Lines.
The facility is already functional yet its effectiveness in crime control and especially traffic management seems to be of little use.
Especially, wrong side driving which is increasingly becoming a norm should have been controlled using the CCTV cameras whose feed is beamed on the giant screens at the Control Centre. Post formal dedication at least, citizens can have respite from mismanaged traffic in the second capital of the State, feel the exasperated people.
The function is going to be held at the ground behind Administrative Building no 2. Pravin Datke, Abhijit Wanjari, Sudhakar Adbale, Krupal Tumane, Parinay Fuke, MLCs; Dr Nitin Raut, Krishna Khopde, Mohan Mate, Vikas Kumbhare, Vikas Thakre, Sameer Meghe, Tekchand Sawarkar, MLAs; are invited for the programme.
Commissioner of Police Dr Ravinder Singal, Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Dr Abhijeet Chaudhari, Anchal Goyal, Officiating CEO, NSSCDCL, will be guests of honour at the programme. The organisers have appealed citizens to attend the programme in large numbers.
The concept of Control and Command Centre was to equip civic and police administration in easing the difficulties in burgeoning urban centres. However both the centre at NMC and with city police have failed to provide any fruitful result that could be visible on ground. Leveraging of technology now atleast will provide citizens escape from the traffic snarls, red signal jumping, wayward driving on city streets so that common man who tends to follow the law, does not feel saddened at being on right side of the law.
Accepted that city police are short of manpower, but for that purpose only State invested heavily in leveraging technology to aid the modern day policing concept. Yet city police machinery it seems is still grappling with the technology and hence citizens would have to wait, only the powers that be knows how long, for restoring rule of law on the city streets.