TrafficInfraTech Magazine Linking People Places & Progress
“At this stage there is no good public transport system. I do agree. As the head of this department, I must visualize for the next 25 or 30 years. Instant solution is not going to help the city. We have to keep in mind the situation of the traffic after 20 or 25 or 30 years, and the aptitude of the people – whether they will be on the road with or without the vehicle, and create systems in the city for that time. If we aim for that, people will begin to feel a better system in ten years.
Diwakar Raote, Minister, Transport, Government of Maharashtra spent over half a day at TrafficInfraTech Expo to understand the latest technologies displayed. He tells TrafficInfraTech that he wishes to implement many of these solutions in Maharashtra.
You spent a lot of time visiting most of the stalls and understanding the technologies. What is your impression of TrafficInfraTech Expo?
I went to nearly all the stalls in an effort to understand the different technologies displayed to control traffic and enable better traffic environment. I was happy to go through some very good systems that gave solutions for controlling traffic overload and taking care of border check posts in a city like Mumbai. We often talk of cities like Chicago but fail to acknowledge the fact that their roads are very wide – they have three and four lane roads. Back home in Mumbai, there is a stark difference between the old city and the suburbs. Since the suburbs have developed later, they have good and broader roads, something that is not possible in the old city. So then, how do we control traffic there? For that, I saw the signal control system for regulating traffic at the Expo. All the technologies had different uses, different ideas, different systems but all of them will definitely help in controlling traffic.
We already have many systems in the city now, including the cameras and the sensors that help in booking the traffic offenders. We have one Control Room in Brihanmumbai Mahanagarpalika (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) but I saw the latest, updated version for this at the Expo. I have asked our department to get introduced to this system so that we can upgrade the systems we have adopted. Even BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking) has its own control system at Bandra.
All the technologies had different uses, different ideas, different systems but all of them will definitely help in controlling traffic.
I was very impressed with one system, specially for Mumbai, as it takes care of the cabling for utilities without any digging. Also, the Signal Controlling Systems, Road Symbol Printing Machines, etc., will prove very useful for Mumbai.
So you will be incorporating some of the technologies displayed at the Expo for traffic management in Mumbai?
Traffic Management of Mumbai is controlled by our Home Department, not by my department. Fortunately, Mr Bharambhe (Milind Bharambhe, Joint Commissioner of Police – Traffic, Mumbai) who is in charge of this, too visited the Expo. I am going to discuss the systems with him too. And, I will also discuss with the Commissioner of Police some systems that I came across at the Expo, like mob controlling system for traffic during morcha as they will be apt for him.
I also saw some good systems for the highways. We face very serious highway accidents, specially on Mumbai – Pune Express Highway. Now, that we are coming up with the country’s biggest eight-lane highway between Mumbai and Nagpur, we will introduce all these latest electronic systems on it. They can be controlled either from Mumbai or from Nagpur.