Amid fund crunch: Work on traffic signal lights resume

Poles to be installed at five places in a week

Mysore/Mysuru: The works on installing traffic signal lights at 10 Circles and Junctions in the city that had stopped due to fund crunch have resumed last evening, with Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) planning to complete the related works within a fortnight.

This action follows a report in Star of Mysore yesterday (Feb. 24) titled “Fund Crunch: Traffic Signal Project Delayed.”

City Traffic Police had proposed the installation of 10 traffic signals at Deve Gowda Circle, Valmiki Circle, Ring Road Junction at Sharadadevinagar, Kannada Circle on Ring Road near Vijayanagar 4th Stage, Hinkal Flyover Signal on Ring Road, Kautilya Circle, Nazarbad Circle, Agrahara Circle, RTO Circle and Rajarajeshwarinagar Circle.

Works on installing five signal lights including the one at Kautilya Circle near Crawford Hall, the administrative office of University of Mysore, are under progress and will be completed in a week’s time. Remaining five signal lights will be installed later.

Motorists inconvenienced

However, the ongoing works on installing the poles for signal lights using the crane at Kautilya Circle has drawn the ire of general public, who find the works severely inconveniencing the smooth flow of traffic due to lack of safety measures.

A crane was deployed to install the poles at this Circle at about 4.30 pm on Saturday, usually when the traffic density will be at its peak. Moreover, with Chamarajanagar-Mysuru train passing through the Railway Gate behind Crawford Hall, the gate was closed for sometime, thus  adding to the traffic pile up near the Circle.

The public were heard complaining about the absence of safety measures, if in case the pole falls during the works, that may result in injuries to vehicle riders. There was neither any warning board nor a Traffic Policeman deployed to ensure a smooth passage of vehicles.

The MCC, which takes up road asphalting and such other works during night time when there is less than minimum traffic density, could have taken up this pole installing works at night hours thus avoiding inconvenience to motorists, the concerned public told SOM.