Navi Mumbai civic body installs traffic signals with Marathi countdown timer

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has recently installed a few new traffic signals at the APMC market in Vashi, where the numbers displayed on the countdown timers appear in Marathi.

This is the first time that motorists in Navi Mumbai have come across such traffic signals that display the countdown numbers in a regional language and not in English.

The NMMC official said that they are doing this on a trial basis to understand the feasibility of the new system.

A senior officer from the electrical department said, “We installed the new signals just a few days ago and will see the kind of response we receive from motorists. If a large number of motorists complain about it, we may even remove them. We also don’t have any plan to install more such traffic signals at other parts of the city.”

A section of residents has welcomed the move; while some others have criticized the civic body for it.

GB More, 52, a resident of Vashi said, “Marathi is the state language of Maharashtra and we don’t see anything wrong in using it in a few traffic signals. Because of such initiatives, people who do not know the language will also learn it.”

Dolly Sharma, 28, a resident of Sanpada said, “NMMC is promoting Navi Mumbai as a city of international standard. Apart from people from across the country, a huge number of foreign nationals are also staying and working here. Those people will not understand the Marathi numbers and hence will face trouble. Personally, I found this move a little conservative.”

The city traffic department said that the civic body neither informed them nor took their opinion before installing the new signals.

Purushottam Karad, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) said, “As far as the new initiative is concerned, we really don’t have any idea about the motive of the civic officials. As these signals were installed just a few days ago, it will be too early to talk about their feasibility.”