SP Traffic Prabal Pratap Singh Talks About Noida Traffic
ASHISH KEDIA , TEN NEWS
Ten News spoke with SP (Traffic) of Gautam Buddh Nagar Mr. Prabal Pratap Singh. Mr. Singh has been carrying out various reforms in the district to curb the traffic issues and is reputed to be very workaholic and result-oriented in his approach. Here are the excerpts of the interview:
TN: Noida is a developing city and various ongoing constructions are undergoing at multiple places. So what are the challenges you have to face to manage traffic under such circumstances?
SP: We will like to bring to your notice that Noida is being developed in to a commercial hub and we over here have multiple MNC’s as well as large residential areas. Many people from neighboring city have made it their home as well as lot of people from Ghaziabad, Delhi and other areas commute here on daily basis. Every day during peak hours 4 to 5 Lakh vehicles ply on Noida roads every day. So the volume of traffic increases multiple times during such hours. Traffic police caters effectively to this challenge. Also construction works such as of Metro etc. have decreased traffic carrying capacities of different road arteries in the city. Even in such circumstance we manage traffic quite effectively. If we take example of Kalindi Kunj route only then we can see that traffic of about 11 lanes get merged on 3 to 4 lanes only due to development work. So this has become a place where there is some problem for a while. We are taking these challenges head-on. I am pretty sure that in one year or so we will resolve all the traffic challenges and it will become an excellent city in terms of traffic and commutation.
TN: Many citizens have raised concerns about shared Auto’s which are often overcrowded. This not only endangers the life of people sitting in them but also of the commuters passing around. So what are the measures that the department is taking in this regard?
SP: Shared auto problem is very genuine in the city. There is a-bit of issue of public transportation as well. NMRC has recently introduced many buses to share the load of public traffic. Still the public transport scenario of the city lacks to meet the regular increasing demand. So the shared autos have kind of become necessary to daily life of general public. It is highly advisable that people no-more than 3 or 5 as specific limit of auto-model should sit on it. But as we can see over 8-10 people sit in it. They do so with their free will. We have regularly doing challan’s and regularizing the traffic. It is a two way issue. We are doing our bit and through TEN NEWS I would like to request citizens to exercise self-regulation. Everyone should only sit in an auto that is with-in permissible passenger limit. This will ensure discipline. From our end we are still trying to enforce it more strictly by making auto’s more aware. We also want auto drivers to use stands more prominently. Also people need to leave the habit of getting dropped and picked-up from their residence.
TN: City area’s such as Noida City Centre and Sector22 specifically are witnessing everyday traffic jams at regular intervals. Are there any steps in pipeline to check it?
SP: As of City Centre, there is a metro construction going immediate after it. This is also the route through which about 1.5 lakh vehicles commute to Ghaziabad daily. Which leads to pile-up of traffic at peak hours. As of now the construction is nearing its end and we assure that even today we have increased force deployed at that place. We have removed illegal parking; channelized auto’s on the route and in last two days only we have towed about 80 vehicles from the nearby spots. So it proves our continuous efforts and we are situation will get better with every passing day.
TN: Has there been any effect of Change in State Regime on the working of your department?
SP: I would like to clarify that it is only hard work that pays at such position. I have been posted in this region for about 10 months and have been working consistently to get things better. Even whole of our force is doing great work. This is our priority and we live by it every day. Even after increased volume we do not have as tough situations as in nearby cities. Things are getting better and will be on the same track.
TN: Pari Chowk experiences huge traffic jams during peak hours. So are there any plans of making red-lights and signals more effective to get rid of jams?
SP: Traffic lights are already installed in the Pari-chowk roundabout and we are working on getting things better. Also it is a T-Point where the Noida expressway ends. Just before Pari-chowk there is also Metro construction going on. There are also Auto’s and Bus that stand over there. So we have requested the authority and a new service road is near-completion that will be used to park public transport. So it will help traffic immensely. So we will resolve it very soon.
TN: Parking issue at Sector-18 is becoming quite enormous. So is there any Multi-level parking project upcoming at the place?
SP: There is already one under construction and it will probably be starting by June this year. It has a capacity of 3000 vehicles. We believe that it will completely resolve the issue. In our expectations 3000 to 4000 vehicles come to this area at a time. Considering present resources and this upcoming multilevel project we will be able to resolve it completely.
