Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)

Mangaluru, Jan 18: With a view to address the traffic problems in the city more effectively, Mangaluru City Corporation and the traffic police department on Monday January 18 jointly organised a public grievience redressal meet chaired by Mangaluru south MLA J R Lobo at Town Hall here.

However, the meet received poor response from the public, with a large majority of the seats remaining empty. Moreover, those who participated in the programme came more than an hour late. Ironically, while officials are often blamed for traffic chaos in the city, when given a platform to discuss and find solutions for the problem, hardly a handful of people chose to participate.

Once the meet started, addressing the gathering, MLA J R Lobo said, "A few days ago I took a tour of the city along with officials to identify the reason and find solution to the existing traffic problem in the city. It was then decided to organize a public grievance meet and take suggestions from the public to tackle this issue. Due to some reason, there has been lack of participation from the public.

"The existing traffic problem cannot be solved only by the traffic police or the officials. There is a need for public paticipation to adress this issue. We have started the concept of traffic wardens in the city. But the number of volunteers is less, hence I request the general public to cooperate and if possible serve as traffic wardens at least 4 hours a week," he urged.

Rajendra Kumar suggested that there needs to be correct marking of lanes and signs on the road. "Every individual should maintain lane discipline while driving. To make sure these rules are followed, rules and fines should be imposed strictly," he said.

Hanumanth Kamath of Nagarika Hitarakshana Vedike said, "Every big city in Karnataka like Bangaluru and Hubballi has one-ways. But why are we not able to maintain one-ways in Mangaluru? When the stretch from Collector's Gate to Balmatta was made one-way before, it had decreased the traffic problem in the city.

"Almost 99 percent of the buildings in the city do not have parking facility. How does the city corporation give them completion certificate? There are some buildings encroaching on parking space, but no action has been taken against them. One such building is Tokyo Market on GHS Road. We are building four-lane concrete roads in the city but are these roads completely used for vehicles is the question. Vehicles are parked on both sides of these concrete roads," he said.

Listing out traffic problems in the city, he said, "Today Mangaluru requires traffic police constables. When the previous RTO Afzal Khan retired, the government wanted to post an official from Hospet by promoting him as RTO. The official had written a letter to the government stating that he did not want to come to Mangaluru. This shows the amount of political pressure here. No official wants to come here because of this. Car Street was developed to facilitate smooth flow of traffic, but now vehicles are parked on the road. School vans should be allowed to enter the school premises, but now they park on the road and this is hampering smooth flow of traffic. All the buses pile up at State Bank, instead as an alternative, some buses should be allowed to stop in different places, like some near RTO, some at State Bank and so on. Buses which take 10 minutes to come from Jyothi to State Bank take 25 minutes while returning. Speed limits should be imposed on these buses."

Walter Menezes said, "The city corporation is not able to build bus stops in some places. In Kankanady, the bus stop which was located at Ganesh Medicals was shifted to a spot near MAK Mall on corporation land. This reduced the traffic problem to a great extent but the corporation could not the build bus stop from 2 years. The fine amounts should be increased. Vaccuum horns of high decimal should be banned in the city. Every time we talk about the issues, but no action is taken. There should implementation of these suggestions, otherwise there is no meaning to discussion."

G K Bhat said, "In any developed city, the pedestrians are given the first priority but here the pedestrians just cannot cross the road. There are no bus stops where neccessary. Some bus stops need to be shifted as they are creating bottlenecks. Stretch from Lady Goschen to Bunts Hostel and Balmata are horn-free zones according to an order issued by the DC, but there is no implementation of this rule."

Rohan Shiri said, "The corporation puts markings on the road but they do not last even for a year. The companies which can give guarantee of 5 years should be given the task of marking the roads. Footpaths are being constructed in the city but the work is progressing at a slow pace. Strict deadlines should be given to contractors who take up footpath work."

District information officer Khader Sha said, "There are some shops in the heart of the city where the items are placed on the streets outside the shop. This needs to be cleared. Doors need to be installed in the city buses and allowed to open only at certain bus stops, as in Bengaluru."

Chief traffic warden Joe Gonsalves thanked everyone for participating in the meet and giving their valuable time and suggesstions.

J R Lobo assured that the suggessions would be taken seriously and appropriate action would be taken. He also said that the home minister has instructed the concerned to fill the vacancies in the traffic police department at the earliest.

ACP traffic Uday Nayak said that there are about 48 constables who are currently under training and within 4 months they would join the department, which would help ease the situation.

Mayor Jacintha Vijay Alfred, deputy mayor Purushotham Chitrapur, MCC commisioner H S Gopalkrishna were also present.