Hyderabad: With the vehicular population in the city increasing and to ensure regulated traffic flow across its limits, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is gearing up to install traffic signals at 155 junctions and 98 pelican signals in addition to the existing 221 traffic signals.
The municipal corporation has roped in a new agency for the installation of the new signals, besides replacing defunct signals at many locations. This is after complaints were coming in from the Traffic Police in the three police commissioners on defunct signals at different points.
The existing contract with the Bharath Electronics Limited (BEL) for operation and maintenance of the existing 221 signals expired recently and the new firm has taken over the maintenance of existing ones, besides preparing for the installation of the new signals.
The GHMC Standing Committee had already approved these plans. The new 155 traffic signals and 98 pelican signals will be set up at a cost of nearly Rs 59 crore. Among the 155 signals, 80 will be coming up in the Hyderabad Police Commissionerate limits, 50 in Cyberabad limits, and 25 in Rachakonda limits. Similarly, of the 98 pelican signals proposed, 41 are to be installed in Hyderabad, 39 in Cyberabad, and 18 in Rachakonda Commissionerate jurisdictions.
The municipal corporation has constituted special teams for the identification and rectification of defunct traffic signals. A survey was conducted last year and it was found that out of the 221 traffic signals, 86 signals were functioning properly and another 80 were functioning partially. The remaining 55 signals were not functioning due to the implementation of signal-free U-turn and the Hyderabad Metro Rail works that were taken up in the past, a senior official said.
The functioning and maintenance of these signals by BEL was not satisfactory due to insufficient deployment of employees and other reasons, including the availability of spares. Despite the issue coming up for discussion during a meeting last year, BEL could not rectify the glitches in the defunct signals, the official said.
The new firm will now operate and maintain the existing traffic signals and simultaneously install new ones. All the traffic signals in the GHMC limits will be synchronized with the Command Control Centre for constant monitoring and regulating traffic accordingly, he added.
