Ggm traffic cops write to NHAI, ask for speed traps, ANPR cameras on Dwarka e-way

The Gurugram traffic police has written to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), pointing out the need for installing automatic number plate recognition cameras, speed traps and more traffic signals on the Dwarka expressway’s elevated section and the lanes below it as soon as possible, officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.
They said that the letter to NHAI had been sent looking at the large number of traffic violations that were taking place every day on the elevated section and the service road below.
The section of the expressway which is 19- km-long in Gurugram, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 11 for the public and the Gurugram traffic police had started enforcement from the very next day.
Within a period of eight days, 410 challans were issued to drivers of light and heavy motor vehicles, the two categories of vehicles allowed on the stretch. Eight challans for wrong side driving and over speeding were issued on the first two days.
Currently, a team of 25 traffic personnel along with an interceptor vehicle are manually enforcing traffic rules on the expressway round-the-clock. The team is being headed by an inspector-rank official who has five zonal officers reporting to him deployed at different locations on the stretch. On the expressway, the maximum speed for light motor vehicles is 100 kilometres per hour and for heavy vehicles, it is 80 kmph.
Gurugram deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Virender Vij, said that among all the challans issued from March 12 to March 19, 258 challans were for wrong side driving which has turned out to be a major issue on the expressway.
“32 challans were issued to violators for over speeding during the same period. Earlier, we had deployed a normal patrolling vehicle on the expressway but we had to change it with a high-speed interceptor to be effective for enforcement of traffic rules,” Vij said.
“So, we wrote a letter to NHAI for installation of speed traps, ANPR cameras on the expressway for preventing any incident beforehand,” he said.
There are seven junctions or roundabouts on the road below the elevated sections on which traffic signals need to be installed too, traffic officials said.
“Speed traps and ANPR cameras need to be installed at these junctions too along with the elevated section,” Vij said, adding that they had earlier held a meeting with NHAI authorities on the issue but that was before the inauguration.
A senior NHAI official, when asked about the matter said that they had not received any letter in this regard from the Gururgam traffic police yet. But they were working to set up a traffic monitoring system. “A tender has been allotted for installing cameras and the work has already commenced,” he said.