CM launches Intelligent Traffic Management System in Kochi

The project will boost seamless mobility in the region which already has the metro rail, private bus companies and an autorickshaw cooperative society.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. File photo

The ₹27 crore Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) to streamline traffic movement and help enforce traffic rules in the Greater Kochi area is yet another feather on the cap of Kochi's transport system, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, after inaugurating it online on Monday.

The impending taking effect of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) and also the expected commissioning of Water Metro (in January 2021) will take forward the cause of seamless mobility in the region which already has the metro rail, private bus companies and an autorickshaw cooperative society to be proud of. That ITMS relies on night-vision cameras will ensure rule enforcement round the clock, he added.

An initiative of Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML), Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (Keltron) installed the high resolution CCTVs and other equipments needed for the project. Automated enforcement will help identify traffic-dense corridors and vehicles moving in that direction will be given preferance. It will also enable automated rule enforcement, whereby incudents like motorists juming signals will be automatically challaned.

He also unveiled CSML's e-health solutions project, which would store data on health of patients, among a host of other functions. Ernakulam General Hospital is among the eight Government hospitals that will be covered under this.

"There will henceforth be no escape for traffic and motor vehicle rule violators," said the Minister for Transport A K Saseendran. He reiterated that the long-pending UMTA-Kochi will take effect in a 'few days time'.

Concern at delay

Hibi Eden, Ernakulam MP, who is also a member of Lok Sabha Standing Committee on Urban Development, expressed angst at projects worth ₹276 cr undertaken by CSML hanging fire. "They include renovation of Ernakulam Market, establishment of a sewage treatment plant and a heritage conservation project involving Broadway Market. They account for one fourth of the 45 projects worth ₹1,000 crore that the agency undertook."