GHMC backs off traffic management project

HYDERABAD: The proposed Hyderabad Traffic Integrated Management System (HTRIMS) to improve traffic signaling system effectively in Greater Hyderabad limits has hit a roadblock as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has decided to back off from the project. A few days ago, GHMC Commissioner M T Krishna Babu had written a letter to Sam Bob, Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD), informing that the corporation was in no position to bear the burden of this project.The MAUD had sanctioned Rs 10 crore from the GHMC funds to install and maintain effective traffic signaling system to the Police Commissioner, Hyderabad under the 100-day action plan. But the funds never materialised.The GHMC, in association with the Hyderabad Traffic Police, had proposed the advanced traffic signaling system called HTRIMS. The project comprises design, site preparation, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and maintenance and operation of traffic signals in GHMC and it was envisaged for a period of five years from the date of commissioning of HTRIMS project with a tentative cost of Rs 25 crore. There are about 220 traffic signals functioning in the city for smooth flow of traffic.The GHMC wanted the state government to either divert the funds that are collected by way of challans by the Traffic Police to the HTRIMS project or said the project may be funded directly by the government.The state government launched a 100-day action plan this year with the main aim of improving civic amenities in the GHMC by improving sanitation, roads, water supply, power and traffic. In response to this, Additional Commissioner, Traffic made a proposal to the government and requested sanction `25 crore to carry out various measures intended to improve traffic flow in the city.The government after studying the matter accorded sanction to release an amount of `10 crore from the GHMC funds to install and maintain effective traffic signaling system and other measures aimed at improving traffic flow in the city. But the funds haven’t been released till date prompting the GHMC to back out of the project altogether.