UNB, Dhaka :A day after the new automatic traffic signaling system’s collapse that caused immense suffering to commuters, both the Dhaka city corporation authorities and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Tuesday engaged in blame-game as to who was responsible for the failure and the ensuing traffic chaos.Sources at both Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation said they had installed the automatic signaling system with solar panels at 62 intersections across the city, but only started operating it at 12 intersections from Shahbagh to Kakoli on trial basis from last Friday.The signals ran smoothly on Friday and Saturday as traffic flow was light due to weekly holidays, but collapsed on Monday as traffic picked up. Sources at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said the collapse was caused by the lack of a central command centre to control the signaling system.But the city corporation authorities say it was not possible to set-up a central command centre due to lack of funds.Contacted, Project Director of Clean Air Sustainable Environment (CASE) of Dhaka City Corporations Shihab Ullah confirmed that the automatic signaling systems at 12 intersections were running on test basis following consultations with the Traffic Department of DMP from Friday.He believes the reason for the collapse is that it was implemented at only 12 intersections and not all 62.”All of the modern cities of the world, except Dhaka City, have automatic signaling system. Collectively, we will improve the signaling system after consulting with all other stakeholders,” Shihab said.
