NEW DELHI: Motorists entering the 1.4-km main road in Chandni Chowk during the restricted hours will be sent notices online by the traffic police. Traffic is restricted on the stretch between 9am and 9pm.
With vehicles ignoring the restriction to drive on the segment, which was redeveloped and pedestrianised in September last year, deputy CM Manish Sisodia expressed his displeasure when he visited the historic Chandni Chowk last month. PWD and the traffic police have since been working on the installation of automatic number plate recognition cameras for booking violators.
Sources said PWD will also repair the boom barriers at the entry points of the roads connecting with the central vista.
According to government officials, 23 ANPR cameras installed by PWD will be handed over to the traffic police next week. The latter will monitor the feed and spot traffic offenders. Officials said these cameras will be integrated with the ones installed on the periphery of Chandni Chowk for overall footage of the area. “The deputy CM has also directed the installation of 14 more cameras, which will also be done soon,” said an official.
The officials said that PWD would also handover the CCTV control room after commissioning its services and equipment to the local police and will share the requisite details pertaining to the gadgets, annual maintenance contract and contact details of the contractor and vendor to meet maintenance challenges.
To prevent the entry of vehicles on the road during the restricted hours, PWD had installed boom-barriers at 14 entry points at Nai Sadak, Dariba Kalan, Esplanade Road and Fountain and most of them had now become dysfunctional after being damaged by vandals.
“The movement of vehicles cannot be prevented unless the boom barriers are repaired and start working again,” said a government official. “After they are repaired, the boom barriers will have to be handed over to traffic police by July 6 so that the entry of motor vehicles can be restricted and illegal parking in inner streets can be prevented.”
A senior police officer, however, said that vehicles violating the traffic rules and timings were already being issued challans regularly. “In the meeting with PWD, issues related to encroachment and presence of vagabonds were also discussed. We have been conducting regular drives along with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The boom barriers will be manned by the Civil Defence volunteers,” the officer said.
