Citizens Forum - An initiative by traffic cops

BANGALORE: The Traffic Police in the city has been taking numerous initiatives to curb the traffic menace in Bangalore. Citizen Traffic Forum is one such initiative, apart from their traffic alerts through messages and various traffic signs in about 20 junctions. It has proved to be a handy instrument for the citizens. Additional Commissioner M A Saleem (Traffic Department) said, “Third Saturday of every month, we ask citizens to come and share suggestions, which can contribute towards bringing down the traffic jams in  the city. They also get an opportunity to present their complaints before us and we try to sort out the traffic related issues faced by them, in their day-to-day life.”When City Express contacted the Traffic Management Centre, an official informed, “About 30 people came to participate in the meetings that took place at the centre this Saturday. They also shared their complaints and suggestions. Mostly, the complaints were pertaining to high traffic congestion at various junctions in the city.”Despite continuous efforts made by the Traffic Department, there are still many complaints. City Express interacted with few citizens in the city to find out the common grievances prevailing among them and suggestions to combat them. Rohit Singh, a employee in a BPO said, “I think the only way to overcome this traffic menace is road widening. Roads are narrow and vehicles too many. Hence, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) should take up road widening projects.”Voicing a similar opinion, Vivek said, “Metro was supposed to curb our traffic woes. However, it has led to traffic jams in all major junctions and bad roads.”