Mysuru: Taking the District Administration, leaders of political parties and the PWD head-on for the implementation of the road straightening work on Hunsur Road near Jaladarshini Guest House, ACP (Traffic) K.N. Madiah categorically stated that the accidents occurred due to the negligence of the drivers and not because of the curve on the road.

He was participating in a discussion on ‘Following traffic rules and road-straightening work,’ organised by the Mysore Grahakara Parishat at its office in Yadavagiri here yesterday and said that the two accidents that occurred near Jaladarshini Guest House resulting in deaths was not due to the curve on the road but due to the drivers not following road rules.

In one case, the driver was drunk and as a result he lost control of the wheel and died. In the second incident, a doctor who was at the wheel was talking on the mobile phone and driving fast. Hence, he lost control at the curve, crashed his vehicle and died. Instead, if he had driven at the prescribed speed limit of 40 km he would have survived, felt Madaiah.

Quoting another example, he said that on the Outer Ring Road near Seshadripuram College there is a 90 degree curve. On this stretch every week two accidents occur. On such curves, drivers should maintain a speed limit of 40 km. If they do not adhere to it then accidents are bound to occur. One should follow road rules and not blame it on the curve, he said, in a reply to a question from one of the MGP members.

Challenges facing Traffic Department: In a candid interaction, ACP Madaiah shared the problems the Traffic Department is facing in the city, in spite of the best efforts to streamline traffic and writing to the Departments concerned about various issues that affect the common man on the streets.

No street lights: In a majority of the layouts in city there are no streetlights. As a result, it is very difficult for the pedestrians, especially senior citizens, to walk on the roads at night. “The Traffic Department has written many letters to the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and District Administration regarding this issue. The MCC which is responsible for maintaining streetlights should swing into action to set things right. Unfortunately, there is no response from the MCC,” regretted Madaiah.

The other important issues taken up both with the MCC and District Administration is regarding the road-widening of Irwin Road in the heart of the city for smooth flow of traffic, underpass project from K.R. Circle to K.R. Hospital and Bogadi Road widening. Due to shortage of     funds, our requests have been ignored, he said.

Pointing out to the efforts of his Department with numbers and statistics, Madaiah said that cases have been registered regarding signal jumping, helmetless riding, triple riding and violation of other traffic rules. Even then, many students violate the rules with impunity.

Funds not released for M-TRAC: In spite of the Mysore Traffic Improvement Project (M-TRAC) touted as the panacea for the ills of the growing traffic in the city and the Siddaramaiah Government launching it with much fanfare on Sept. 6, 2014, it is sad to see that not much has happened in this regard because of  shortage of funds.

Under this project, Rs.4 crore was released for the year 2015-16 and Rs. 5 crore for 2016-17. “However, we have not sent the proposal for release of money for the current year to the State Government. If we get this money then traffic signboards and traffic signals can be installed in many places,” he said.

In spite of writing to the MCC and District Administration regarding filling of potholes and medians on concrete roads, nothing has been done. To ease parking problems on Devaraj Urs Road, Sayyaji Rao Road, Gandhi Square, Ashoka Road and other important roads in Central Business District, letters had been written to introduce ‘Pay and park’ system to MCC several times in the past. But the MCC has not bothered to take any action, said Madaiah.

There are no funds even to paint zebra crossings on the road, to paint some of the stretches with white and yellow colour paints, which have faded. The 100 cameras that were purchased earlier have come for repairs and CCTVs must be installed in several prominent roads in the city, he said.

Even the Traffic Interceptors that monitor the speed of the vehicles are under repair. There is only one vehicle with the Interceptor working now. Hence, we have to purchase new vehicles with Interceptors for which there are no funds, he regretted.

Shifting of rural bus stand: The traffic density in the city is increasing by the day. It has become imperative to reduce the stress in the Central Business District and a proposal has been sent to the District Administration to shift the Suburban Bus Stand to the outskirts of the city and the present City Bus stand must be shifted to the Suburban Bus Stand, are some of the suggestions to the District Administration, he said.

If this step is taken then the pressure round the Mysore Palace will come down. However, the District Administration has not responded to any of these suggestions, he said.

MGP President S.D. Saokar, Secretary Prof. S. Shobana, D.M. Bhat, S. Tirumallaiah, B.T. Cheluvaraj, Sardar Pasha, Asif Ali Khan, T.S. Subramani, Maj. Gen. S.G. Vombatkere (Retd.) C.R. Ashwathanarayan, R. Chandraprakash, S. Sureshkumar, Dr. K.R. Joshi, D.C. Lakshukumar, K.S. Radhakrishna, Gangaprasad, D.V. Dayanand Sagar, U.S. Acharya, K. Girish Chander, Dr. B.V. Shivamurthy, K.V. Bhanuprashanth, K.S. Venkatesh, Ko.Su. Narasimhamurthy, S.V. Raghavendra, C.V. Ravi, Leela Venkatesh, T.K. Bharathi, M. Janaki Raman, A. Manju, Mohammad Alimulla Shafi and others were present.