New signboards on PWD roads to show names, numbers of officials

NEW DELHI: In a significant move, Delhi government has decided to install new sign boards on Public Works Department (PWD) roads, carrying the names of the area's executive, assistant and junior engineers along with their numbers.

The new sign boards will also have the Control Room Helpline Number of the Public Works Department (PWD). The move is intended to help motorists on roads, take up their complaints with the authorities in the national capital.

A Delhi government official said that the PWD has directed chief engineers of north, east and south zones to get such signboards installed on each PWD road within one week.

Around 1,200 km of roads in the capital come under the Public Works Department. "This is the first time that PWD will install road sign boards mentioning the names of the executive, assistant and junior engineers and their numbers. Apart from this, the PWD'S Control Room Helpline Number will be on these boards," the official said.

“Also, the Lieutenant Governor recently expressed the desire to put up such signboards on the department's roads in the city," the official said.

"If motorists want to take up the complaint with senior officers about a particular road, they can directly make a call to the concerned area's engineer," the official further added.

A study conducted by the Delhi-based Institute of Road Traffic Education on 14 major stretches of the national capital had in June found that faulty signage may actually be behind traffic violations and the resulting accidents.

Nearly 70 per cent of such signs is wrongly designed and placed. Of around 1,514 regulatory, warning and information signage on the surveyed stretch, 1,098 (75 per cent) do not meet the prescribed norms, it said.

According to officials, the government has received a number of complaints regarding the wrong signboards which sometimes leads to huge problems for the citizens. The officials also said that the lack of information of the officers led to create confusion among citizens regarding the complaints.

The L-G has welcomed the step and asked the department to work according to the order of the Delhi government.

The work will start from the next month and the department will try to finish the it within next four months. The concerned officials would start their final plans of installing the new signboards from the next week itself, the sources confirmed.

A government official said that the PWD has directed chief engineers of north, east and south zones to get such signboards installed on each PWD road within one week