The city with a population of over 20 million and with the number of registered vehicles well over seven million has a total of 154 installed traffic signals but only 93 of them are functioning on its road network spread over thousands of kilometres, it emerged on Friday.
The fact that 60 of these signals — 65 per cent of the total — happen to be in areas that fall under the jurisdiction of the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) makes things a bit more intriguing as such areas. According to the official CBC website, covers merely 361kms of overall road network that zigzags through the city.
According to Traffic Engineering Bureau (TEB), the city has a total number of 94 installed traffic signals in areas under the jurisdiction of KDA. But 61 of them are ‘non-functional’.
While DIG-Traffic Ahmed Nawaz Cheema, insisted that the city “should have 2,000 traffic signals” to ensure smooth flow of vehicular traffic, it is ironic that of the 61 ‘non-functional’ signals, 42 have been switched off by the traffic police itself for VIP movement and, in the words of the official, to “facilitate vehicular flow on the roads”.
