This all-important query has gripped the traffic police and the traffic department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and has delayed the installation of 32 traffic signals all over the city for nearly a year. The confabulations between the departments even caused a tender by the BMC for installation of the lights last September to be cancelled. Now, a new tender is being chalked out, a process which promises to take at least three months. And since the BMC doesn't usually permit the digging up of roads in the monsoon, the lights could well be installed only by November this year - one full year after the first tender was called.

In the middle of 1998, the traffic police sent a notice to the BMC's traffic department calling for new traffic signals in 32 spots in Mumbai, including junctions at More Road, Mahim, JVPD scheme at Vile Parle, Barkat Ali Road andKamgaar Krida Kendra on Senapati Bapat Marg. The first tender was issued in September. But this tender failed to specify the material to be used for making the hood of the signal, said traffic police sources. At present, the hoods are made of Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP).

This material has been preferred to make hoods for at least 10 years, but now, traffic planners are doing a rethink on its use as the Area Traffic Control (ATC) programme, which is lined up for World Bank funding, has laid down specifications for the materials to be used in making the hoods. Under the ATC, traffic lights will change according to the load of traffic rather than as per time intervals. ``The World Bank has suggested that a material called polycarbonate should be used for the traffic signals,'' a senior police official told Express Newsline. A specification the tender failed to mention.

Polycarbonate costs more than twice the market rate of FPR. Companies manufacturing both polycarbonate and FPR responded, sparking offmeetings between the Traffic Committee headed by S P S Yadav, Additional Traffic Commissioner, Dr Sankar Vishwanath, Deputy Chief Engineer (traffic), and other BMC officials. With the possibility of the companies threatening the BMC with legal action if the tender was awarded, the civic legal department then recommended issuing a new tender. The revised tenders are likely to be issued by the end of April. Both Yadav and Vishwanath refused to comment on the issue, merely saying that the first tender was cancelled due to ``some internal problems.''

BMC officials also complained that the traffic police, which finances the installation of signals, has been slack in paying their dues. ``They owe us nearly Rs 14 crore by way of arrears in the last five years,'' sources said. However, Yadav claimed that Rs 1.66 crore had been paid to the corporation.The victim of this tussle has been the commuter. In January this year, four accidents on Barkat Ali Road in as many weeks led the residents to hold a public agitationfor two days. The protests subsided only after assurances that a traffic light would be installed at the spot soon to monitor the heavy traffic. Although speed breakers have been constructed, there is still no sign of the traffic signal - made from either Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP) or polycarbonate.