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'Mismatch of road capacity & traffic volume'

In an interview with News Trail, MA Saleem speaks about the challenges in managing city traffic amid the increasing number of vehicles

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: Dr M Abdullah Saleem's recent appointment as Special Commissioner, Traffic, is a return to a familiar turf. People familiar with him often regard him as a 'Traffic Man,' and it is not without reason. Dr Saleem was born on June 25, 1966 in a town near Bengaluru and has a brilliant academic record.

After completing his Masters in Commerce in 1989, Masters in Police Management from Osmania University in 1993 and a Doctorate Degree in Traffic Management from Bangalore University in 2010, he was selected through the All India Civil Service Examination to the Indian Police Service (IPS), Karnataka Cadre in 1993. The rest is history. In an interview with News Trail, Saleem speaks about the challenges in managing city traffic amid the increasing number of vehicles.

Q. Appreciation has been pouring in after you took charge as the special commissioner for traffic in the city. What are the issues that are making traffic management more difficult here?

(Smiles) You know very well how chaotic traffic is in the city. Managing it is a challenge by itself as there is a mismatch of capacity of the roads and volume of traffic. Earlier we had problems with the narrow roads in Central Business District (CBD) areas after which we introduced 'One Way System' and received a good response.

However over the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of vehicles despite road development work. Currently the city has 1.25 crore people and 1.04 crore vehicles including 22.86 lakh cars, 71.80 lakh two-wheelers and 2.5 lakh private cabs. In five years, vehicles will outnumber people.

Q. Recently you have chalked out several measures to decongest Hebbal flyover. Can we expect any plans for Silk Board, KR Puram and Goraguntepalya gateways?

Sure. But first, let us observe the reactions to the measures taken recently. We have planned several initiatives that will be implemented in the coming months that we think will be effective in solving many of the issues.

Q. Was restricting heavy vehicles at the Hebbal junction only a short-term plan? What can be the long-term plan?

It is a short-term plan. The traffic police can chalk out only short-term measures and observe if the plan works out. Now there are two things called 'Supply Management' and 'Demand Management.' The Demand management includes increasing the capacity of roads or constructing more flyovers to ease traffic jams, which are not under our purview.

We can only work on Supply management which is bringing some temporary relief to an issue without hampering any civic work. The restriction on heavy vehicles during peak hours has eased the traffic flow to some extent.

Q. Do you agree that the problem with Hebbal junction was due to infrastructural issues?

Yes. This was an infrastructural issue. Six to seven lanes of traffic come from Kempegowda International Airport and Chikkaballapura side and get stuck while elevating into the two-lane flyover. Generally it is like a funnel effect. Our task was to reduce the traffic itself which was coming in a huge volume to enter into the city.

Q. The traffic department has adapted several Artificial Intelligent (AI) based methods. Also body-worn cameras have been provided to the cops. Do you think these initiatives will really help in making traffic management effective?

Definitely. Digital technology will bring transparency in traffic enforcement. Every day around 3000 two-wheelers and 5000 big vehicles hit the roads, excluding big trucks which move around for civic work. Automatic Number-Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras will help the management in tracking various traffic violations including red light violations.

Through these cameras, we are booking around 30,000 violations per day. Body-worn cameras have been provided to get feedback on a cop's behaviour with commuters. At present, the Traffic Management Centre (TMC) can be reached easily by residents through social media, control room or by 'Citizens Traffic Forum,' which is held every second Saturday across the city.