Non-functional traffic lights make commuting difficult in Ludhiana

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 12

The commuters face inconvenience as traffic lights at several intersections are not functional in the city. The Municipal Corporation (MC) has failed to pay attention to these traffic lights.

The Old Sessions Court chowk is one of the busiest intersections, but traffic lights installed here have not been functional for the past few weeks. The chances of mishaps remain high due to non-functional traffic lights.

Also, traffic lights near Government Meritorious School lying defunct. Residents have also complained about nonfunctional traffic lights at the Jamalpur chowk, the Police Colony chowk on the Chandigarh road and the Dugri road.

The traffic lights installed on a pole on the National road side (Bhai Bala Chowk) were also not functioning today. Moreover, traffic lights on the Kaka Marriage Palace road, near the PAU gate, are not properly functional these days.

A road safety activist Rahul Verma said, “Traffic lights are crying for attention at the Rajguru Nagar intersection on the Ferozepur road and several other points in the city. Also, traffic lights poles are not properly visible at some points after construction of pillars of the Elevated Road project on the Ferozepur road.”

“I had raised the defunct traffic lights issue at a meeting about road safety, but nothing has been done to improve the system in the city. Even no steps have been taken to install new traffic lights at various other major intersections for the safety of commuters,” Verma added.

A city resident Satinderpal Singh said, “The civic body must conduct a survey in entire city and take immediate steps to get non-functional traffic lights repaired. Moreover, traffic lights with signals for pedestrians should also be installed at various busy intersections where chances of mishaps remain high.”

The MC’s agreement with the old firm for the maintenance of traffic lights had expired while the work order is yet to be issued to the new firm.

An MC official said, “The issue off non-functional traffic lights at the Old Court chowk, the Jamalpur chowk, Dugri and another points in the city is in our notice. Besides, traffic lights at the Police Colony chowk got damaged when an electrical wire fell on it.”

Earlier, traffic lights were installed near Nehru Sidhant Kendra on the Pakhowal road, but these were later put on yellow light blink mode. According to the MC, the traffic police have switched these lights to blinking mode.

Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu said, “The F&CC has approved the file regarding the work order to be issued to a new firm for the maintenance of traffic lights. The non-functional traffic lights will be repaired soon in the city.”

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