Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL)’s project to have ‘smart iconic traffic posts’ at major junctions of capital city Bhubaneswar and cover all the the solar power in a phased manner for the personnel to man traffic posts for hours, has fallen flat on the face and people’s money has gone down the drain.
Unfulfilled Promises and Operational Failures
These iconic traffic posts now without illumination at important junctions like the New Airport Square have become a nightmare for motorists as well as the traffic police personnel at night. The problems for road users are compounded when the traffic light stop functioning due to various reasons and the traffic personnel have to control the vehicular traffic with hand signals, whom the motorists are not able to see clearly. So, this endangers all the road users as well as traffic personnel.
When the iconic posts had started operating at some places the BSCL said “Iconic traffic posts are now lighting up key locations across the city, enhancing traffic safety and adding a modern touch to urban infrastructure.”
Events That Exposed the Flaws
However, now even during the recent DGP Conference, Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and ‘Utkarsh Odisha’ when many national and international personalities were in the capital city, these iconic smart traffic posts were in darkness while major roads were decorated with lights, which proves the lip service done about upgrading urban infrastructure and the indifferent attitude of the concerned officials.
Earlier, the BSCL had said that, “The smart iconic traffic posts will be equipped with solar power systems having power backups of up to 56 hours. There will be energy-saving ceiling fans, soft glow lights, mobile charging points, microphones and loudspeakers as well as emergency call buttons. Smart traffic posts had already been installed at nine locations, including AG square in the city.’
Allegations of Deep-Rooted Corruption
Based on feedback, new elements including rain protection cover and timer for lights would be added to the new smart traffic posts. BSCL officials said the posts will have 3D illuminated logos of the Commissionerate Police and BSCL along with location names on all sides, the BSCL had added.
Notably, the capital city has around 60 traffic posts manned by over 500 traffic personnel on rotation basis.
However, the intelligentsia said the agency which implemented the project with Smart City funds should be blacklisted and the guilty BSCL should be punished as the agency awarded the work, was required to comply with a six months defect liability period as well as four years and six months maintenance period.
But though the traffic posts have become virtually defunct within a couple of months, no action has been taken against the executing agency which points out its deep-rooted nexus with the dishonest BSCL officials.