Dehradun district magistrate SA Murugeshan stressed on freeing the roadsides in the bustling market areas and other places from the encroachment of the local shopkeepers and cart vendors while presiding over a road safety committee meeting with the district officers on Friday.
He said that with the commuters facing traffic jams daily, the traffic police, Public Works Department and municipal corporation officers must intervene. He further asked them to identify the places where traffic congestion problem is acute. Suitable arrangements should be put into place to enable the vehicles move smoothly, he said.
DM directed the municipal corporation and SP Traffic to remove all unused electricity poles hanging over the roads. They should be identified first and then removed, he stressed. He said that due to dearth of parking space, traffic system is being thrown out of gear daily and asked the officers to talk to the school managements for providing parking spaces within the school campuses. This is what is spawning traffic congestion and initiatives must be taken to make the school managements to provide parking spaces within the school premises, he stated.
Murugeshan directed PWD officers to erect dividers in the middle of the roads apart from installing signboards at important crossings of the city. He further asked the officers concerned to make special arrangements of for the cart vegetable vendors to ply from Mandi so as to ensure that they do not clog the roads while plying during the morning hours when traffic happens to be heavy.
DM instructed the municipal corporation officers to ensure that the garbage is lifted by 7 am daily so that the vehicles loaded with garbage do not run during the day hours. The vendors having the required permission should be allowed to install shops in the Sunday market, DM said.
Besides, he stressed on arranging transport in such areas where neither the city buses nor the Vikrams ply. SP traffic was directed to check road accidents in the city by dealing stringently with the violators of the traffic rules and slapping them with penalties. Besides, drunk driving and over-speeding must be stopped, he said. He also laid thrust on checking road accidents in the mountainous parts of the district. Overloading in the commercial vehicles should not be allowed on the roads under any circumstances, he said while asking the PWD officials to widen the roads at the sharp bends and also to put warning sign boards at the accident prone places.
During the meeting, SSP Nivedita Kukreti directed Circle officers to identity the crossings where two buses cannot move at the same time.