Strict enforcement of rules, more personnel needed: adviser

Strict enforcement of traffic rules and increasing the deployment of traffic police personnel could ease some of the traffic-related problems in the city, Adviser to the Government on Traffic, Transportation and Infrastructure Issues M.N. Sreehari has said.

A total of 175 traffic junctions are equipped with surveillance cameras, while less than 4,000 traffic personnel are there to control traffic on around 13,000 km of the road network in the city. While the number of junctions equipped with surveillance cameras should be increased, ideally, the number of traffic personnel deployed should be doubled, he said.

Lack of coordination

Lack of coordination between government agencies was a major contributor to the continued problems in traffic management. “The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) does not consult the Police Department when implementing traffic-related projects. A classic example is K.R. Circle where a beautiful circle has been turned into a traffic mess. When the underpass was being built and the traffic island was being created, the Police Department was not consulted. This resulted in chaos. Eventually, the junction got the signals.”

Even the stretch on Seshadri Road — between K.R. Circle and Anand Rao Circle — has been mismanaged causing traffic problems, he said. Many suggestions to create a two-lane busway on the four-lane road have been ignored. According to him, poor vision while implementing the Namma Metro project has been contributing to the woes of motorists. “The world over, the metro goes underground in congested areas, but in Bangalore it has been taken over ground. This has not only led to loss of homes and livelihoods, but also caused misery to motorists.”

He accused the metro authorities of bowing to pressure from influential people to change the alignments.