Once the proposal to replace the 51 traffic signals within Coimbatore City Police limits is approved by the State Government, the maintenance of the signals will improve, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R. Mutharasu.
Mr. Mutharasu told The Hindu the proposal worth ₹ 4.82 crore was sent by Commissioner of Police Sumit Sharan to the State government in November 2019 and is expected to be approved in the next few months.
“We will have a five-year maintenance contract with the firm that will erect traffic signals,” he said. The traffic signals will be designed with the latest technology available at the time of the proposal’s sanction, according to Mr. Mutharasu.
Coimbatore City Police will also be paying the electricity bills for all the traffic signals once the proposal is sanctioned, he said. After the Madras High Court directed the State government in 2017 that permission should not be granted for installation of advertisement boards at traffic signal posts, various private firms that were maintaining the signals stopped paying electricity bills. The functioning of the traffic signals was ensured after the traffic police approached Tangedco for a temporary arrangement, he said.
Mr. Muthurasu noted that the road safety initiative ‘Uyir’ will be maintaining the 51 traffic signals till the sanction of the proposal.
The initiative has so far erected and maintained 11 traffic signals apart from the existing 51 signals in the Coimbatore City Police limits, he said.
‘No dept. entrusted’
Regarding complaints of poor maintenance of traffic signals, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause K. Kathirmathiyon noted that the State government has not entrusted any government department with maintenance and bill payments of the signals.
“No government order has been issued in this regard yet,” he said.
Mr. Kathirmathiyon said that he wrote to the State government on September 24 requesting to provide adequate funds to a particular department for the erection, electricity bill payment and maintenance of traffic signals.