Rains set traffic cops thinking

CHANDIGARH: After the incessant rain on Wednesday played havoc on city roads, causing waterlogging and jams, UT police traffic wing is now trying to identity the problem areas and find ways to reduce vehicular congestion during the downpour.
“Heavy rain pours more chaos on southern sectors, particularly at Piccadilly roundabout, Kisan Bhawan rotary, newly-constructed dividing road near Burail Model Jail, Sector 20 gurdwara roundabout and labour chowk, among others.The waterlogging problem is not much pronounced at Madhya Marg,” SP (traffic) Hardeep Singh Doon said.
To find out a solution, the wing has decided to seek details of all points affected by waterlogging from the engineering department. It has also decided that awareness would be created about alternative route, where rush was comparatively less.
When the joint efforts of local police and traffic cops towards regulating vehicular movement failed on Wednesday night, commuters had stepped into their shoes.
Shiv Gautam, a resident of Sector 50, said, “I was going towards Sector 50 through the main dividing road of sectors 46 and 50 when my car got stuck in a one-and-a-half kilometre traffic jam. And, there was not a single cop to regulate the traffic.” When his three calls to the police control room went unheeded, he, along with three other commuters, came out of his car to manage traffic, he added.
Traffic police inspector Prem Dalal said the peak-hour rush in mornings and evenings added to the chaos on these routes.
An SHO rank official from the southern division said, “The city’s south, especially Dakshin Marg from Tribune roundabout to Sector 38, is usually afflicted with waterlogging during monsoons. Local police, along with cops, had managed traffic well in the city during these days,” he claimed.