BRT power cut: Traffic cops blamed

BRT power cut: Traffic cops blamed

Express News Service

Posted online: Monday, May 05, 2008 at 2359 hrs IST

New Delhi, May 4
Even as the Delhi government is leaving no stone unturned to remove every glitch along the 5.8-km Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor, chaos and confusion within the agencies involved in implementing the project continues.

This time, it was over a two-hour long power failure on Saturday evening and the resultant traffic jams.

And the blame game was

between Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit system (DIMTS) — the Special Purpose Vehicle in charge of the corridor — and the Delhi Traffic Police.

Around 7 pm, after the traffic lights went out due to a technical glitch in the local distribution network, the 45-minute jam was reported along most intersections.

The DIMTS managing director SN Sahai, sources said, lodged a complaint with the CM’s Principal Secretary PK Tripathi.

“If the Traffic Police had deployed more personnel, such a situation could have been avoided,” the complaint reportedly read.

Sahai, however, refused to comment. There are about 70 marshals deployed along the corridor.

The transport department is yet to set up a full-time back-up for blackouts by installing inverters and generators. A similar blackout had occurred earlier last month.

Joint Commissioner (Traffic) SN Srivastav said he was not aware of any such complaint.

“The traffic police have always managed traffic in Delhi,” he said.

In yesterday’s case, traffic signals were operated by CMS (Bangalore-based private firm), and after the power failure, had switched to the back-up mode,” he said. “But when the power failure continued longer,

the signals had stopped functioning.”

Admitting that there were slips in the management on Saturday, he added: “The Traffic Police is always available, but there are times when such situations arise do arise.”

	Print Story
BRT power cut: Traffic cops blamed Express News Service Posted online: Monday, May 05, 2008 at 2359 hrs IST New Delhi, May 4 Even as the Delhi government is leaving no stone unturned to remove every glitch along the 5.8-km Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor, chaos and confusion within the agencies involved in implementing the project continues. This time, it was over a two-hour long power failure on Saturday evening and the resultant traffic jams. And the blame game was between Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit system (DIMTS) — the Special Purpose Vehicle in charge of the corridor — and the Delhi Traffic Police. Around 7 pm, after the traffic lights went out due to a technical glitch in the local distribution network, the 45-minute jam was reported along most intersections. The DIMTS managing director SN Sahai, sources said, lodged a complaint with the CM’s Principal Secretary PK Tripathi. “If the Traffic Police had deployed more personnel, such a situation could have been avoided,” the complaint reportedly read. Sahai, however, refused to comment. There are about 70 marshals deployed along the corridor. The transport department is yet to set up a full-time back-up for blackouts by installing inverters and generators. A similar blackout had occurred earlier last month. Joint Commissioner (Traffic) SN Srivastav said he was not aware of any such complaint. “The traffic police have always managed traffic in Delhi,” he said. In yesterday’s case, traffic signals were operated by CMS (Bangalore-based private firm), and after the power failure, had switched to the back-up mode,” he said. “But when the power failure continued longer, the signals had stopped functioning.” Admitting that there were slips in the management on Saturday, he added: “The Traffic Police is always available, but there are times when such situations arise do arise.”