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Thursday , 28 March 2024

“These technologies will give us a better control on the road”

What challenges does the government face since decades in implementing its own good policies?

Road-SafetyThe biggest challenge is increasing traffic. It is beyond limits. We cannot stop anybody from purchasing cars. In Mumbai city, one family has four to five cars, one car for each member of the family. If public opts for public transport, the traffic will be controlled better. We are trying to see that people use public transport more and avoid getting their cars out. Now, Mono and Metro are running. Ola and Uber are also good transport systems. If people move to these, traffic will be better controlled.

But…

Yes, but it is so crowded, I know. To your surprise, 70 lakh people come in Mumbai every day. And there is a floating population of 50 to 60 lakh on the roads. With a smart traffic system, we will be able to negotiate the traffic that enters Mumbai from 9 to 11am and leaves between 4 to 8pm. So, we will be able to give better services on the road during those peak hours.

For public transport on the roads, we haven’t really lived up to the expectation. Local trains in Mumbai are brilliant though.

When Freeway was built in Mumbai from Fort area to Chembur, people who previously used to take two to three hours to commute on that road, now cover the distance in 20 minutes. Similarly, on Western Express Highway, we now have no-signalled traffic now as all flyovers have been built across the highways. If we correct some points, traffic will be much faster. And if the Seaway, the dream project of our Shiv Sena Party Chief Shri Uddhavji Thackeray, is built then traffic will be diverted and anybody can travel from Fort to Andheri in 20 minutes. That will clear the traffic in both, morning and the evening. We are also going ahead with water traffic now. There may be launcher systems from Colaba to Andheri and Borivali through the sea. We are coming up with that policy and the honourable Chief Minister has already announced it.

The plans for infrastructure are all good, but if we had good quality public transport systems, people would leave their cars and move to public transport. That hasn’t happened and that is a very big challenge for you.

Virtual-Info-Systems’

(L to R) Virtual Info Systems’ Managing Director JP Nair, Chairman Jayaraman Nair and Editor-in-Chief Managala Chandran giving a memento to Chief Guest for TrafficInfraTech Expo on the second day Diwakar Raote

You are right. At this stage there is no good public transport system. I do agree. As the head of this department, I must visualize for the next 25 or 30 years. Instant solution is not going to help the city. We have to keep in mind the situation of the traffic after 20 or 25 or 30 years, and the aptitude of the people – whether they will be on the road with or without the vehicle, and create systems in the city for that time. If we aim for that, people will begin to feel a better system in ten years.

70 lakh people come in Mumbai every day. And there is a floating population of 50 to 60 lakh on the roads. With a smart traffic system, we will be able to negotiate the traffic that enters Mumbai from 9 to 11am and leaves between 4 to 8pm. So, we will be able to give better services on the road during those peak hours.

How important do you find Expos like TrafficInfraTech that display technologies from all over the world?

These technologies will give us the right control over traffic because we have limited strength of traffic police. This limited strength does not allow us to punish the offenders as traffic riders are much more. So to control it, the technologies present at the Expo will prove to be very helpful. For example, we have started issuing e-challan on highways. We have issued e-challans to about 8000 people at their door with their photographs. But I saw a much more advanced technology at the Expo. The technology keeps changing and advancing every day and these shows help us in getting to know about them. At the Expo, the best part was that I would get convinced at one stall and the moment I would move to the next stall, it would show me something that would convince me more.

The only thing required now is for the decisions makers and implementers in the government to bring up these systems. People may or may not abide by the rules but these systems will definitely give us better control.

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