Noida: District traffic police to use Google Maps to address traffic congestion - Hindustan Times
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Noida: District traffic police to use Google Maps to address traffic congestion

By, Noida
Sep 26, 2020 11:07 PM IST

Gautam Budh Nagar traffic police said they are going to use online traffic monitoring application to keep tabs on vehicular movement and send personnel to decongest jams. Officials also issued two helpline numbers and urged people to share their complaints and feedback to improve the city’s traffic.

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Ganesh Prasad Saha, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Gautam Budh Nagar, said the department has set up a help desk and issued two helpline numbers – 7065100100 and 9971009001 – for people to report congestion, malfunctioning traffic lights, or other problems. “The first number is for calls as well as WhatsApp messages while the second number is only for calls. The calls and messages will be swiftly addressed,” he said.

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He said the department is taking several measures to improve vehicular movement in Noida and Greater Noida. “We have planned to use Google Maps to ease traffic as it is a convenient way of navigating to a destination. Traffic personnel will monitor roads on Google Map. The maps share the traffic situation live in terms of green lines (where movement is smooth) and red lines (where movement is slow). The officials will identify roads and stretches where traffic is slow and rush traffic personnel and marshals to address the problems,” he said.

He further said that vehicles found stranded on the road causing congestion will be towed. “If the traffic is slow due to any other problem, the officials will take necessary steps,” Saha added.

On Saturday, traffic officials held a meeting with local residents through video conference and discussed various issues to improve the situation.

KK Jain, general secretary Federation of Noida Residents’ Welfare Association (FONRWA) said some traffic signals are not synchronised in the city. “At present, the traffic signals have fixed timings. They should be upgraded to dynamic signalling so that they automatically change the timing as per traffic pressure,” he said. Jain also demanded that roads and metro stations should be free from encroachment as it slows down traffic.

There are over 500 personnel – four traffic inspectors, seven sub-inspectors, 103 head constables and 395 constables – in the traffic police department.

In 2019, the district traffic police had issued 6,99,708 challans and collected 14.76 crore in fines from violators. From January to September 24, 2020, the department has issued fines to 3,39,775 violators.

The department issued 55,424 fines in January and 27,245 in February this year. In March, 19,823 penalties and in April, 11,541 fines were issued, as the national lockdown was announced in wake of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. From May, the violations again started increasing. In May, June, and July, 19,402, 56,434 and 60,180 fines were issued. A total of 48,488 challans were issued in August and 41,238 challans till September 24.

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