10K jump signals in Kalyan daily: Data

KALYAN: More than 10,000 people have been recorded jumping signals in Kalyan daily since the installation of traffic signals with Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS) at five major junctions in Kalyan.

The ITMS, under the Smart City project executed by the Smart Kalyan-Dombivli Corporation Limited (SKDCL), has been functioning since January 26.

However, these violations are just recorded through the system as of now. The traffic police have not been sending challans to the violators yet. The system has been installed at 20 major junctions across Kalyan–Dombivli. At present, five of them are functioning – Durgadi Chowk, Prem Auto Chowk, Khadakpada Circle, Near Sandip Hotel and Adharwadi Chowk in Kalyan (W) – while the rest will be operational soon.

An officer said, “At present, we are getting around 10,000 violations per day from the five junctions, where this system is working as of now. There are a total 20 junctions, where we are operating red light violation detection system. We are working on the rest of the junctions, which had some technical glitches due to rain and some unavoidable weather conditions. Once all the systems start working, we expect an average number of violations per day to be around 40,000 to 50,000.”

Meanwhile, commuters taking the streets in Kalyan claimed that sometimes the signals were not working and caused confusion.

“The signal at Chakki Naka in Kalyan (E) is not functioning most of the times. So, we actually don’t know if we need to follow the signal rule or not. Sometimes, it seems to be functioning. All the work done appears to be incomplete and that is why people are also unaware. I think the traffic police and the civic body should do some awareness campaign in the city on following the traffic rules,” said Shraddha Bhoir, 35, a motorist.

Although the cases of signals jumping are recorded at these five junctions, the traffic police have not initiated with any action against the violations.

Umesh Mane, assistant commissioner of police (traffic), Kalyan division, said, “We are yet to begin with the challan process as the work of the ITMS is still under way and there are several technical aspects to the same. We will be discussing the same with the authority and make sure we start taking action against the violation at the earliest. The system is very useful as it collects the image of the violation and we can take action based on that.”

Vehicles at busy Adharwadi Jn. in Kalyan.