TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS IN CHANDIGARH

HC wants ‘third eye’ to keep watch at night 

Chandigarh, August 26
Driving home the message of road safety, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that it wants the “third eye” to keep tabs on traffic violations even at night.
Taking up the traffic regulation case, Justice Rajive Bhalla of the High Court has suggested that the Chandigarh administration “may also consider installing cameras with night vision and a flash”.
Justice Bhalla also indicated that the court wanted to gauge the efficacy of the closed circuit television cameras and also wanted to know whether more such cameras should be installed in the city.
“The respondents are directed to file an affidavit with respect to the number of challans generated by CCTV cameras and whether the Chandigarh administration intends to cover other areas of the city with the CCTV cameras and to establish more such control rooms,” Justice Bhalla asserted.
The Bench was also told that the number of traffic challans in the city had gone down, “thereby establishing that the attempts by the Chandigarh Police to educate the general public about the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, are succeeding”.
Turning to Haryana, Justice Bhalla asked the Panchkula Superintendent of Police to ensure that traffic rotaries and service lanes in the township were not accessed from the wrong side.
The State of Haryana was directed to file an affidavit on “offenders sentenced for driving under the influence of liquor during the past two months”.
In his detailed four-page order, Justice Bhalla also took note of the assertion that 85 per cent of the bypass from Pinjore to Parwanoo was complete and was likely to be thrown open to the general public by December.
The State of Haryana was also took time from the High Court to file an affidavit on the minimum number of traffic police officials required in Gurgaon and Faridabad.
Justice Bhalla had already directed the removal of all encroachments on land beneath the Zirakpur flyover. The case would now come up for hearing on September 26.