By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 6 Feb: Chief Secretary Dr SS Sandhu held a meeting with all the departments concerned at the Secretariat here today to discuss ways and means of reducing the traffic congestion in Dehradun. The Chief Secretary said that an institutional mechanism should be created to reduce traffic congestion in the state capital.
The Chief Secretary directed that a Unified Metropolitan Transportation Authority (UMTA) be activated to continuously oversee the monitoring system in the direction of reducing the city’s traffic congestion. Also, its meeting should be organised every month. He also spoke about exploring the possibilities of cycle tracks, underpasses, urban rope-ways, etc., wherever feasible and required. He added that wherever it was possible, new routes would be developed.
The Chief Secretary said, “The places where engineering can bring improvement, it should be done immediately by the departments. Electric poles should be shifted at intersections in the next 15 days. In those places where there is more traffic congestion, action should be taken against vehicles wrongly parked or in no parking zones and, for this, CCTV cameras and drones should be used. Suggestions should be sought after talking to the schools as to how the jam caused by school buses in the city can be reduced. The buses of the Transport Corporation can also be considered for the schools during the school hours. Action should be taken by issuing notices to big malls and institutions which are not using their parking or are using the parking for other purposes.”
The Chief Secretary said that there is a need to improve the public transport system to reduce traffic congestion. He said that the frequency of public transport should be increased. Along with this, the timing of the vehicles should also be ensured. The arrival time of the next arriving bus should also be displayed at each bus stop using more and more technology.
On this occasion, Additional Chief Secretary Anand Vardhan, Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram, Arvind Singh Hyanki, SN Pandey, Director, Traffic, Mukhtar Mohsin, District Magistrate, Dehradun, Sonika, Chief Municipal Commissioner Manuj Goyal and SP, Traffic, Akshay Prahlad Konde were present.
