Bhubaneswar: The vision of transforming Bhubaneswar into a truly smart city seems to be fading as several infrastructure projects under the Smart City Mission have become inactive. The most visible one is the city’s automated traffic management system, which has now gone partially manual.

At several major intersections across the capital city, traffic police are once again seen manually controlling vehicles using red and green lights, a clear sign that the automated signal system has stopped functioning.

Bhubaneswar was selected as one of India’s first smart cities in 2016. Under the Smart City Mission, Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) was formed on February 23 that year to accelerate development work. BSCL functioned as the nodal agency to implement various projects aimed at modernising urban infrastructure.

The city’s first smart initiative was to upgrade all major traffic posts into automated signal systems using advanced technology. The project was expected to reduce the workload of traffic personnel and ensure smooth traffic flow. Initially, it worked as planned, as the traffic personnel no longer needed to stand in the scorching heat, and traffic movement became more organised.

Smart traffic posts not so smart?

However, within a few years, most of these smart traffic posts stopped working. Signals at important junctions such as Kalpana Square, Rajmahal Square, Jayadev Vihar, Vani Vihar, Jagamara, and Ravi Talkies have become defunct. As a result, traffic officers have been deployed with hand-held red and green lights to manage the traffic manually.

Though the traffic lights are visible at night, they are hardly noticeable during the day, creating confusion among commuters. The countdown timers, which earlier displayed waiting times for each direction, are not functioning. Without knowing when the signal will turn green, many drivers tend to cross the junctions abruptly, often leading to congestion.

Citizens complain that such mismanagement not only causes traffic chaos but also causes unnecessary fuel wastage. Many even face penalties due to the inconsistent functioning of signals.

Also read: The Bhubaneswar that once was: Forests, bullock carts, and fear of tigers.