No funds to repair defunct traffic signals

VARANASI: A number of traffic signals are lying kaput in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Kashi. A ‘helpless’ Varanasi Municipal Corporation has been unable to take up maintenance work in want of fund.
Despite construction of flyovers and rail-over bridge to ease traffic congestion, traffic has remained chaotic in the city. Crossings constructed and maintained to ease traffic movements have turned into a cause of bottlenecks.
Two flyovers were constructed to ease traffic movement, especially at Andhrapul and Chowkaghat Crossings along with busy Kuchehri-Sarnath Road. Besides, a rail-over bridge too was built near Manduadih station to ease load of heavy vehicles coming from the neighbouring districts.
Corporation’s junior engineer Buddhu Ram said traffic signal lights were installed at 10 crossings across the city to streamline traffic movement. “All traffic signals are lying defunct as roads have been dug up to lay pipelines. These signals need repairing. We prepared a proposal of Rs 18 lakh for the same but realized later that corporation had no budget to maintain the signals,” he said.
“We contacted SP, traffic, Lal Bahadur and were told that Rs 14-15 lakh would be required to install 16 lights (solar and electrical) at two crossings – Chowkaghat and Andhrapul. Another Rs 8 lakh would be required for eight other crossings. We were assured that the proposal would be sent to the government,” he added.
SP, traffic, said that the proposal was ready and would soon be sent for government’s approval. Despite repeated attempts, municipal commissioner Umakant Tripathi could not be contacted.
The city development plan prepared under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) also pointed out that barring Mari Mai Ka Temple, Kabir Chaura, Rath Yatra and Maldahiya area, the city had no signalized intersections. These signals too were not functional in absence of maintenance.
Apart from these, around 32 intersections were manually operated by traffic police. The junctions with highest traffic volume were identified as Golghar Chowk, Pandeypur Chowk, Andhra Pul, Chowka Ghat, Gadaulia, Ramapura, Kabir Chaura, Lanka, Maldahiya, Sigra, Golgadda, Rathyatra, Dharamshala Chowk.