Chandigarh resident moves Lok Adalat for manual control of traffic

The Permanent Lok Adalat (Public Utility Services) Chandigarh has issued notices to the UT Administration, the Traffic Police and the Pollution Control Committee, Chandigarh, seeking their replies on an application filed by a city resident for issuing direction to control traffic lights manually or by minimising the timing of the ones installed at busy roundabouts.

In the application filed through advocate Vinod Verma, Sukhvinder Singh, a city resident, stated that traffic lights installed at major intersections of the city had become a major source of pollution due to the wrong policies of the Administration. He alleged that the timing of the traffic lights had been fixed without undertaking any study on several roundabouts. Due to this, the roundabouts had been witnessing heavy traffic at all times.

A majority of commuters do not switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting for the green light at these roundabouts. Due to this, pollution in the city had been increasing. He added that longer timing at traffic signals, especially during winter, was causing a lot of air and noise pollution.

He said Chandigarh was established as a planned and organised city with straight, beautiful roads flanked by greenery. There were roundabouts at every intersection of sectors. Over the passage of time, the number of vehicles increased drastically and the Traffic Police, instead of increasing its strength, started installing lights at roundabouts. He said no prior survey by experts was carried out to manage traffic before lights were installed.

Several roundabouts were dismantled and traffic lights were installed on those intersections.

The roundabouts were the best solution to regulate traffic with minor manual control during rush hours in the morning and evening. He sought direction to the Traffic Police to control signals manually or minimise their timings by monitoring through CCTV cameras, especially during winter to cut down on noise and air pollution.

The Lok Adalat has issued notices to the Traffic Police and the UT Administration to file their replies on November 19.

Police, Admn directed to reply today

• In an application filed with Permanent Lok Adalat (Public Utility Services), Sukhvinder Singh stated that the timing of traffic lights at major intersections was fixed without conducting any study
• A majority of commuters do not switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting for green light, causing air, noise pollution
• The Lok Adalat has issued notices to UT Administration, Traffic Police and Pollution Control Committee, seeking their replies on November 19