Technology-oriented Traffic Regulatory Management System (TRMS) which was introduced in Tiruchi city a few years ago is virtually in a state of limbo now.
The hi-tech system which elevated Tiruchi as a model city in using technology for better enforcement of traffic rules and curb road rule violations using surveillance cameras has become almost non-functional.
A chain of speed dome surveillance cameras and the more sophisticated Automatic Number Plate Reader (ANPR) cameras installed at busy thoroughfares and vantage traffic junctions have ceased to function.
The cameras were deployed under the ambitious TRMS initiative commissioned in 2010 after a trial run to act as a manpower multiplier to aid the police in keeping a round-the-clock vigil with a view to curbing traffic violations and act as a deterrent.
Funded by the State government, the task of installing the cameras and other paraphernalia as well as its maintenance was entrusted to a private company.
Under the TRMS, the modern police control room acted as the nerve centre where plasma screens, connected to the chain of 12 speed dome cameras and 42 ANPRs through wireless network, were installed to enable police personnel keep a round-the-clock tab on the movements taking place at busy intersections and spot out the violations.
The system which worked effectively since its commissioning has become for all practical purposes non-functional now with the ANPR cameras having been removed from different intersections.
Sources say this was because of the fact that the annual maintenance contract with the company had not been renewed even after the expiry of the three-year contract period in September 2013.
Although the issue had been taken to the notice of the State police headquarters level, there was still no progress in the case, the sources added.
Tiruchi was in the forefront when the technology-oriented TRMS was put in place with police personnel from other districts and even from different States visiting the city to get a first hand account of its functioning.
Sources say only the hand-held terminals brought under the TRMS and used for levying spot fines were alone working under the system at present. Nevertheless, several of these hand-held terminals had become defunct due to technical problems.
Only if the annual maintenance contract was renewed would the system function once again, the sources said. The non-functional of the system comes at a time when there was increased emphasis on installation of cameras to act as a deterrent in a bid to curb crimes.