Traffic signals blocked by trees land people in trouble in Delhi

Navneet Kapoor, a resident of south Delhi’s East of Kailash, regularly uses Raja Dheer Sen Marg to get to work. Recently the Delhi Traffic Police personnel asked him to pull up his car soon after he crossed the traffic signal.

“You have jumped the traffic signal, you will have to pay a fine,” a traffic police constable asked him.

Kapoor stepped out of the car and reasoned with the constable saying that he was not at fault because the traffic signal was completely blocked by a tree. “Only when I showed the constable how the signal was blocked did he understand the problem and let me go,” Kapoor told HT.

The traffic signals at Basant Kaur Marg T-point and near Saket Metro station on Press Enclave Marg are also similarly blocked by unpruned trees. “I use the road every day and have to struggle to see the traffic lights. It hampers the smooth flow of traffic as the motorists get confused,” said Vivek Tandon, a businessman and a resident of Hauz Khas.

The Delhi high court’s order, which said that no pruning of trees will be permitted in Delhi except in accordance with the Delhi Protection of Trees (DPT) Act where mandatory permission has to be taken from the tree officer, has added to the woes of civic agencies, commuters as well as the traffic police.

Dr Ruby Makhija, secretary of Navjiwan Vihar in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar, said the H block traffic signal near Geetanjali Park was also covered by trees.

“I frequently use Mathura Road to go home in Molarband Extension. Tree branches block the view of the traffic signal near the zoo. I see trees covering traffic signals in some other places as well. The problem has increased in the last few months. Motorists, as well as pedestrians, are at risk,” said Anshul Pandey, a resident of Molarband Extension.

Karan Aggarwal, general secretary of East of Kailash D Block RWA, said he has informed PWD officials and also the traffic police officials about the traffic signals being covered by trees near D Block on Raja Dheer Sen Marg but no action has been taken to fix the problem so far.

At many places across the Capital, traffic signals are partially or fully blocked by trees landing motorists in trouble every day. Motorists fail to see the signals and end up jumping them and often get pulled up by traffic police personnel for signal violations.

An official from the Public Works Department (PWD), which is supposed to undertake regular pruning of trees on the roads owned by the agency, also cited the high court order and said that the agency cannot prune trees without approval from the forest department.

“We carry out regular pruning of trees on PWD roads with approval from the forest department of the Delhi government,” said a senior PWD official, requesting anonymity. The roads of Delhi are maintained by multiple agencies. While PWD manages roads wider than 60 feet, smaller roads are managed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). PWD manages over 1,200km of roads in the national capital, said a PWD official.

A Delhi Traffic Police official said they also receive complaints regarding trees blocking traffic signals. “Since the roads are managed by PWD, the pruning work can be done by PWD only,” said the traffic police official.