Power crisis has now hit the all ‘powerful' police too. Yes, a majority of the traffic intersections in the ‘temple' city is now backed with UPS (uninterrupted power supply) facility following acute power crisis, police say.
Four days ago, the Aavin junction traffic police got a new UPS facility. Almost all major locations like Thevar statue junction (Goripalayam), Apollo junction (Gomathipuram-Anna Nagar), Periyar bus stand and among others are now supported with the power back up arrangement. On the one hand, there is steep rise in vehicle movement in the city and to ensure that there was no traffic bottleneck, police are working out modalities that would keep the flow uninterrupted.
However, on the other hand, the frequent disruptions in electricity supply has pushed the police to find alternatives as managing the traffic manually is no more possible with just a handful of men.
At a time, when the traffic planners are seeking more personnel to handle the vehicle flow effectively and enforce traffic laws by putting up more and more automatic signals, the power disruption had hampered their plans to a great extent.
Till a month ago, the police were sure of the timings as to when the power would go off. However, in the recent past, it has gone from bad to worse.
A traffic constable at Periyar statue said how they had tough time in getting the battery recharged on a day, when the power went off from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. On a working day, it was hell without power, he narrated .
Similarly, in pockets like Teppakulam and Kalavasal too, the personnel had to install the UPS as regulating traffic movement manually was tough and it may lead to a “free for all” situation.
A senior police officer said that there are 36 big and small traffic signal (locations) in the city limits. However, one-third among them have the UPS facility. In the event of power cut, just with one traffic police at a busy location such as Goripalayam, vehicle movement cannot be handled.
A police man recalled how the UPS facility itself went off for about four hours (during peak hour) and with the help of five constables deployed, traffic had to be regulated that day.
But a senior TANGEDCO official said, “Bad times have just begun and worse is yet to come,” which means motorists should be on the watch while using the roads.
