The bustling city of Lucknow is choc-a-bloc with big schools, wedding lawns, hotels, banquet halls, restaurants and hospitals without adequate parking lots, which causes traffic jams in many places. The city dwellers experience a harrowing time as a result, often missing important appointments and deadlines after getting stuck in jams.
In such a frustrating scenario, an IPS officer has taken the initiative to improve the traffic system in the capital city of Uttar Pradesh by issuing an 8-points advisory to schools and other private institutions on traffic management. He is Joint Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, Lucknow, Piyush Mordia. Indian Masterminds got in touch with him to know his plan for managing traffic jams in the city.
STRICT RULES FOR SCHOOLS
In a letter to the educational institutions, Mr. Mordia explained that the traffic system gets badly affected due to the jams at the time of the beginning and end of schools, and police keep getting complaints regarding this issue. He also provided possible remedies in his letter.
To address the problem of traffic jams near schools, Mr. Mordia suggested that guards must be deployed outside school gates to direct and assist parents who are picking up and dropping off their children. At the beginning and end of each school day, a teacher or member of the administrative staff must act as a representative of a regulatory body to keep an eye on the movement of vehicles outside the gates.
“Vehicles must be parked in a pre-designated parking space. The entire school should not be dispersed at once. Different classes should be dispersed at an interval of 20 minutes,” he said.
He further pointed out that the most important time to be noted was the opening days of schools and the end of classes. For which, the district administration, traffic police and school managements have come together to prepare a strategy. As per the strategy, no ice cream, fast food and other food items vendors and shops will be allowed to open outside the schools during the specified times. They can open after the schools get over.
GUIDELINES FOR PARENTS
Along with this, parents have also been informed that whoever comes to pick up their children has to park their vehicle one kilometre away from the school. Once the children come out of the gate of the school, they should bring their car there, make them sit, and leave immediately to keep the traffic running smoothly.
Moreover, carpooling is being encouraged for lesser cars on the roads. In this manner, less traffic would be produced, and this would eventually aid in lowering the degree of pollution caused by vehicles.
PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS’ COOPERATION SOUGHT
Apart from this, the officer also wrote letters to proprietors of hotels, banquet halls, restaurants, marriage lawns and private hospitals. He wrote that due to the lack of parking facilities outside their institutions, the owners park their vehicles chaotically on public roads. Due to this, the common people passing through that area have to face traffic jams. He reminded them that it is the responsibility of the business place, institution and the establishment to ensure parking arrangements.
The letter explained all the issues by engaging with the owners of the places politely and respectfully. As a result, everyone understood the points the officer was trying to make, and arrived at a consensus to find a solution to the traffic jam problem by fixing parking arrangements outside their institutions.
APPEAL TO ALL CITIZENS
Lastly, Mr. Mordia has appealed for everyone’s cooperation to make Lucknow city free of jams and ensure a smooth traffic flow. He said, “Due to Lucknow being the capital, our responsibility and your responsibility become bigger. We have successfully started the initiative to make our city traffic jam free, but we still have a long way to go.”
