The district administration is observing the National Road Safety Week from Monday to enhance traffic regulation awareness and conduct enforcements.
Yet, the traffic signaling system remained a grey area in the town where traffic management is a major issue with a surge in population, including floating ones.
Interestingly, although the major traffic posts are equipped with the CCTV networks and manned, yet none of the posts has electronically operated signal gadgets when the department is engaging student traffic volunteers.
Although in major intersection points and squares of the town including FM Golaii, Station square, Police line ,ITI square , Fandi square etc, the signaling system was introduced in 2008 with the initiative of then police heads with the assistance of local industries, but all of them went defunct after some years.
They are neither repaired nor replaced due to paucity of funds. In the want of traffic signal system, these posts are manned manually by at least two traffic personnel as per record between 8 am and 1.45 am and from 3.30 pm to 9 pm.
On most of the occasions, it is observed that the traffic manning personnel arrive late in the post and leave the post early.
With the rise in population while there is manifold increase in the vehicles including four wheelers, a handful of traffic personnel are seen manning the posts at FM circle, Station, Station square , Police line square and at times near ITI square.
Most importantly , these posts are not manned from the centre of circle or squares since there is no space to erect post in the appropriate places. The appropriate places for erecting traffic manning posts are occupied with light posts. Another important shortcomings in the traffic manning is that neither the certain required patches have zebra crossings nor the reflectors.
Traffic police station OIC Prasant Ransigh said that for installing signal system while proposals for 11 posts were submitted, five of them were approved. Soon they would be installed in the major points and in those places there won’t be requirement of two traffic men.
For capacity building of the traffic personnel, some are undergoing one month training in Bhubaneswar when the student volunteers are engaged mainly in assisting the traffic police and streamlining the parking in the town which is a major concern of the congested town .
District Collector Ramesh Chandra Rout said since the widening work of some major roads was in progress, the shifting of light posts won’t be feasible. He assured that the road works would be completed soon and the light posts would be shifted and the traffic manning posts would be erected.