Visit roads, count speed breakers, Delhi HC directs cops

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed the municipal corporations, traffic police and other civic agencies to visit each road in the national capital and count the total number of speed breakers. The cou-rt’s direction came after the Delhi traffic police informed it that there were only 93 authorised speed breakers on roads built by the Public Works Department in the capital.

A bench of justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Yogesh Khanna also directed the agencies to identify potholes, manholes and other such breaks which exist on Delhi roads and file their reports. The court noted that the traffic police has identified 93 speed breakers on main roads, but could not ascertain the exact position with regard to roads in interior areas like colonies.

The bench directed that chief engineers of the three civic bodies and the special commissioner of police shall work in coordination and identify the actual position of speed breakers. It issued similar directions to the NDMC, DDA, the Delhi Cantonment and the Public Works Department. and the DSIIDC (Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation).

The court said the authorities shall earmark local officers concerned and policemen in the area and they should jointly visit each road and report the correct status. They should also give measurement of speed breakers as well as differentiate the authorised and unauthorised ones, it said.

The court asked the agencies to file progress reports by August 16, the next date of hearing. Advocate Naushad Ahmed Khan, appearing for the traffic police, told the court that proper signages have been placed on the 93 speed breakers, which have been made as per norms of the Indian Road Congress (IRC) and the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC), on the peripheral roads here.

The court was hearing two PILs filed against unauthorised construction of speed breakers on city roads without complying with the guidelines of IRC and UTTIPEC.

The court had in May and August last year directed the agencies maintaining roads in the national capital for removal of all speed breakers not approved by the traffic police and which do not conform to the prescribed norms.

Thereafter, it had told the traffic police that all speed breakers, both authorised and unauthorised, on Delhi roads must be geotagged and their location marked by GPS.

It had also asked the authorities to make public aware that if they need a speed breaker they have to approach the traffic police and not take law into their hands by making one themselves. The authorities were also asked to ensure that signages regarding speed breakers and u-turns are put “to warn drivers” in advance and “aid in reducing accidents”.