The Deccan Chronicle 27.10.2010
City traffic lights go on the blinkHyderabad, Oct 26: The suffering of motorists in the city, already made unbearable due to the potholes, went up a notch further on Tuesday when over two dozen traffic signals went kaput in the core city.
Traffic snarls were witnessed at most crossroads and other junctions despite the traffic police deploying additional personnel to manually regulate traffic.
Sources said a sabotage by employees of the CMS Traffic Signals Limited, which maintains majority of the signals in the city, is not being ruled out. Most of the employees of CMS had quit protesting against irregular salaries.
The GHMC had outsourced the maintenance of traffic signals in the city to CMS. The role of another private agency, which was stripped of the traffic signal maintenance contract in the city, is also being probed.
The traffic cops said it was utter chaos on most junctions in the city as the impact of one junction where the traffic signals were not working was felt on other junctions where the signals were functioning.
The additional commissioner of police (traffic), Mr C.V. Anand, confirmed that several traffic signals had stopped working causing traffic jams. The vehicular speed on most of the city roads came down to less than 5-km per hour even during non-peak hours due to the problem.
The reserve inspector (traffic), Mr Yedukondal Reddy, who is the liaison officer between the GHMC and traffic police (Hyderabad), said the signals were not functioning properly since Saturday. “There is some problem in CMS and its employees are reported to have left their jobs. We have requested the GHMC to ensure immediate restoration of the signals,” he said.
The traffic signals that broke down were RTC crossroads, Musheerabad, Dharam Karan Road, SBH Gun Foundry, BJR Statue at LB Stadium, St. Johns Rotary (Secunderabad), YMCA, Alugadda Bavi, Sangeet crossroads, Kavadiguda, Ashoknagar, Indira Park, Rani Gunj, Karbala Maidan, Nallagutta T-junction, DMRL crossroads, Himmatpura, Delight Cafe near Rethi File bus station, SBH crossroads near Patny, Secretariat, Telugu Talli statue junction and others.
When contacted, the GHMC additional commissioner (traffic and transport), Mr Subba Rao, said senior executives from CMS, Mumbai, had arrived in the city and had engaged a fresh batch of technicians and labour to restore the traffic signals. Some of the signals, as the one at Secretariat, have already been restored and all of them will be operational by Wednesday morning, he said.
“There is some problem of salaries in CMS. The GHMC will enquire into all angles including the sabotage one and take appropriate action against the guilty,” another GHMC official said.
