30 traffic signals need to be repaired in city: Joint Commissioner of Police

Vijayawada: Joint Commissioner of Police Kanti Rana Tata on Monday said that the functioning of all traffic signals was important to regulate traffic in the city. Participating in a meeting convened by Mayor Koneru Sridhar with the corporators, municipal staff and police officials at the VMC Council Hall to discuss on how to resolve the traffic problem in the city, Rana Tata said nearly 30 traffic signals in the city are not functioning properly and underlined the need to take up repairs immediately. 

He said traffic signals will enhance the beauty of city and play vital role in regulating traffic. Talking about the development works in the city, he said the citizens were facing severe traffic problem in some parts of the city due to flyover construction works at Benz Circle and near Durga temple.

The joint commissioner of police said traffic was diverted at some places due to ongoing flyover construction works and added unauthorised parking was another major problem being faced by the public in the city. He said the VMC should take care that vehicles are to be parked in the cellars instead of on the roads.  

Mayor Koneru Sridhar said that traffic problem in some areas can be reduced with the construction of sub-ways on some main roads. He said the VMC was not able to invest money for construction of sub-ways and felt financial assistance can be taken from the CRDA for sub-ways.

He said the government should allocate some percentage of the road tax to Vijayawada Municipal Corporation as the civic body was spending crores of rupees for laying roads and their maintenance. Though the VMC spending crores of rupees for laying new roads, repairs and maintenance, the government was not rendering any assistance to the civic body, he pointed out.

He said the police department was collecting penalty from the vehicle users for violation of traffic rules but not allocating some percentage of collection to the VMC for maintenance of roads. Corporators Muppa Venkateswara Rao, Pydimala Subhashini, Devineni Aparna, Saritha, N Jagadeesh and others made suggestions to police and VMC officials on regulation of traffic and to curb road accidents. The Vijayawada Municipal corporation officials and police have planned to work with co-ordination to resolve the traffic problems in the city.