NDITA looks to tune up traffic management

Kolkata: A brainstorming session to improve traffic management in Sector V, Bengal's IT hub, was held in the office of Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) on Friday.

Sector V has come up as a major IT hub and thousands of people come here for work every day. NDITA has already taken several steps to improve its traffic system.

The meeting was chaired by Debashis Sen, NDITA chairman and representatives of SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers).

SIAM has decided to observe 2019-20 as the National Road Safety Year. This was resolved in their December 2018 annual CSR Conclave. They intend to roll out in seven cities of the country in the first instance, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata.

Their idea is to create a cross-sectoral task force along with urban planners, police, transportation managers, NGOs, driving schools, automobile manufacturers, schools and SIAM.

NKDA and NDITA would identify one stretch each that would be developed as model stretches. They gave an example of how in Gurgaon, just pruning a few trees that hid traffic signages from motorists', has reduced road accidents by 20 percent.

In another example, a wide traffic junction was made narrower, which has prevented lane crossings in haphazard manner at vulnerable sections and thus improved traffic safety by 15 percent.

A pilot project is the ideal start where one or two stretches will be identified by NKDA and NDITA. There should be an area that can be fully controlled, monitored, measured and audited. SIAM will soon submit a formal proposal based on the discussion that was held on Friday.

The areas that will be given importance include urban planning, infrastructure planning, maintenance and upgradation of both transport and pedestrians.