Faulty traffic signals inconvenience commuters at Putlighar Chowk

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 22

Faulty traffic signals at Putlighar Chowk are troubling commuters and traffic police personnel as the latter have a tough time managing the traffic for the past almost three months.

Shopkeepers in the area said the fault in the traffic lights was first spotted around three months ago.

“Sometimes if there is a green light it does not changes for almost half-an-hour and if it turns red it remains so for another 25-30 minutes. The lights seldom work in a proper manner,” said a shopkeeper, Joginder Singh.

The commuters were seen crossing the intersection without caring for the traffic signals. “The faulty signals are deceptive and could be the reason for accidents. The fault must be rectified as it is a busy intersection,” said Harman Jeet, a commuter. Traffic police personnel deployed in the area too complained that in the absence of properly working signals it becomes a tough job for them to manage the vehicular traffic the whole day. “Generally, people do not follow traffic signals and in such a situation they have an excuse to break the rules,” said a traffic policeman.

The road is used by a large number of tourists visiting the Wagah Border and the War Memorial. Even educational institutions such as Guru Nanak Dev University and Khalsa College are connected with this road.

The traffic on the stretch increases during evening hours when tourists return from the Wagah Border after watching the Retreat Ceremony. The traffic police officials said he responsibility of repair of the traffic lights was of the Municipal Corporation and they had already sent an intimation in this regard.

The lack of coordination in the MC and the traffic police has often resulted in delay in such repair works.

A local resident, Jatinder Kumar, said: “Would it not be better if its responsibility was given to the traffic police and funds are made available for maintenance to them so that faults are rectified in a shortest possible time.”