Faulty traffic lights pose a threat to commuters

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 12

Faulty traffic lights at major intersections like the Hanuman and Bus Stand chowks are posing a threat to commuters. The lights go defunct for a while during the peak hours.

The lights at the Hanuman chowk did not function for at least one hour yesterday, causing traffic chaos at the busy intersection.

City residents said the traffic lights were not functioning properly. They demanded that the authorities concerned should reschedule the time limit of the traffic lights installed between Teen Koni Chowk and Bus Stand Chowk for ensuring a smooth flow of traffic.

They said the authorities should install traffic lights in other parts of the city, including Civil Hospital Chowk and Railway Station Chowk.

Harmeet Singh, a city resident, said, “When traffic lights stop functioning, it becomes difficult to get through as one has to be extra cautious as vehicles start coming from all directions.”

When contacted, SP (Traffic) Gurmeet Singh confirmed that traffic lights remained non-functional yesterday for more than an hour in the city. He said they had time and again written to the municipal corporation regarding defunct traffic lights, but no concrete step had been taken till date.

He said traffic police personnel also faced problems in managing traffic whenever the lights went defunct. He admitted that most of the times the traffic lights installed at some major spots in the city did not work properly.

MC Commissioner Sanyam Aggarwal said, “The contract of the maintenance of the city traffic lights has been given to a Chandigarh-based company and we are soon going to conduct a meeting with the company executives. The problem will be resolved shortly.”