ITANAGAR, 13 Jul: Urban Affairs Minister Balo Raja convened a meeting at his office here with the UA & transport commissioner, the UD chief engineer, the ICR DC, the traffic SP, the town planning director, the ULB director, the housing joint director, and the Smart City Mission CEO, among others, on Saturday to discuss the issue of traffic management in the ICR.
The minister said that “issues related to effective traffic management is one of the important topics as part of making a world-class, future-ready Itanagar-Naharlagun twin capital cities, as identified in the 24 high-priority decisions taken in the Cabinet sitting.”
Following discussions, the participants agreed on putting in place mechanisms to address traffic management at the earliest.
The mechanisms include replacing the present system of traffic regulation by adopting the latest state-of-the-art technologies; placing dividers in a scientific manner to make the city beautiful and facilitate easy movement of vehicles and pedestrians; installing automated traffic signal lights, combined with AI cameras, at all the identified junctions in Itanagar,starting from Chimpu to Rajnivastinali in B Sector for intelligent traffic management; training everyone, particularly the drivers/riders of Tempos and two-wheelers, to follow the traffic rules; establishing proper bus/Tempo bays; ensuring that buses/Tempospick up/drop passengers at regular intervals, without allowing the vehicles to remain parked in one place for a long time; allowing only ‘two lanes’ movement on both sides of the highway, and allowing no one to take the middle of the road (in between two vehicles) or the sides of the roads in a haphazard manner by crossing the lines; installing artificial intelligence cameras all along the highway under the Smart City Mission, in synchronisation with the traffic signal lights to detect traffic violators and issuing e-challans to the registered mobile numbers of the owners/violators and the DTO concerned simultaneously; making e-challan operational after a trial for one month; installing traffic signals in such a manner that drivers coming from one side are allowed to travel at one go, either to the right, or the left, or taking a U-turn, with specific slots for pedestrians; generating public awareness on the dos and don’ts (including the importance of paving passage for on-duty ambulance/fire/police through FM radio and social media platforms) frequently; establishing a ‘model traffic park’ in the city to make the public aware of the traffic rules and signals; allowing only right side parking of vehicles on one-way paths/roads; making parking lots available for the public and encouraging them to park their vehicles only in the parking areas/places free of cost initially for a certain period, so that the public become familiar with the system and adopt it; relocating the street vendors to appropriate vending zones/slots; relocating the Tempo/Sumo parking lots/stands; implementing the report prepared after spot verification by the police and other line departments; regularly cleaning the city and repairing footpaths, drainage, etc; strictly implementing the building bye-laws through the ICR DC; and preparing a ‘city mobility plan’ as suggested by the Centre, to east traffic movement.
The minister entrusted the UA & transport commissioner with the task of having further discussions with all the line departments and stakeholders for the implementation the action plan and coming up with a detailed report by the end of the fortnight for further steps to be followed.
On receipt of the action taken report from the commissioner, a meeting would be convened again with all stakeholders, including the Itanagar MLAand the IMC mayor “for its effective management,” an official release stated.
