COIMBATORE: After a long struggle, the Coimbatore city police obtained permission from the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation to use the new police traffic booths, which remain unused for over a year in many parts of the city.
The city administration first stopped the project, citing norms to display advertisements, but have now allowed it after requests from the police department, said sources.
In many parts of the city, regular traffic lights have been replaced with U-turns and roundabouts. This helps people travel faster, but traffic snarls still occur. Even with traffic signals, these snarls can only be managed well when a traffic police officer is stationed. While the police department set up booths with air conditioners, toilets, and public announcement systems in many locations, they were left unused as it took a long time to obtain permission from the city administration.
Sources said the city police and a private company set up 69 traffic booths at busy road crossings, each costing Rs 2.5 lakh. However, 54 booths are unused as they lack power connections.
Only 15 booths received electricity connections, and a few were dismantled and dumped on the roadside near the Racecourse police station. Traffic police personnel said most booths were locked, and chairs were removed from some booths. Meanwhile, the city police, in an effort to bring the facility into use, continuously approached the civic body to obtain a NOC for the operations and to get electricity connections. Police officials said their efforts have yielded favorable results, and the civic body agreed to issue NOC to the booths installed on corporation roads in the city.
A senior corporation official said, "The remaining booths installed along state and national highways must obtain NOCs from the concerned departments. Once we receive the NOC for a booth, we can easily get electricity connections from TNPDCL. The process has started, and we will complete the work within two months," said the officer.