Amanora removes tyre killers after police order, but wants them reinstalled

A day after the traffic police sent a notice to Amanora Park Town for the tyre busters/killers installed by the township, tyre killers were removed. However, the township management has written to the traffic police seeking permission to reinstall them, according to Sunil Tarte, general manager of Amanora Park Town.  

"We received a letter from the commissioner to uninstall the tyre busters. So this morning (Monday) we uninstalled them. On Monday evening, we have inwarded a letter to the DCP (traffic) seeking permission to reinstall the busters," Tarte said.

“The iron tyre killers installed in front of Amanora Town Centre’s Future Tower, next to the school, has come to our notice. We have received a complaint regarding the same. This iron tyre killer on the public road has reduced the security in the area,” reads the notice, served in Marathi, signed by police inspector JD Kalaskar of Hadapsar traffic police department. The notice further threatened police action if the township management failed to uninstall the tyre killer.

The tyre busters are spike-like structures, installed on the road, which tear into the tyres of vehicles coming from the wrong direction of the road leading into the residential township. However, when the vehicles from the right direction pass over the busters, they let the vehicles pass unharmed.  

Amanora management had called for a meeting with the traffic department around noon on Monday. However, the meeting did not happen and the management decided to write a letter to the police instead.

A part of the letter, written in Marathi, reads, "Amanora's tyre killer received citizens', media's as well as social media users' support. There is a need for such speed breakers throughout the country. It ensures security of riders/drivers as well as pedestrians."  

However, not all residents of the township agree with the management. "It is a dangerous system. While wrong side driving is a problem, this is a dangerous way of trying to curb it,” said Nishant Singh, who lives in Future towers, next to the road where the busters were installed. 

The busters were installed on one of the inroads of the township 45 days ago. However, "something happened on March 31 night" and a notice was served to the township, according to Tarte. The township was in the process of installing four more such busters.  

"Every metre cost us ₹20,000. The total cost of the spot was Rs.1,50,000. We had received great response after the installation. There is a school very close to the installation. There were multiple minor incidents reported from that spot, but since the installation, not even a single incident was reported from there," said Tarte.  

People had tweeted to the police to install it in various parts of the city as well as Noida and Delhi, Tarte said. "People tweeted to Yogi Adityanath and Arvind Kejriwal to install it in their states," he said. The installation, he added, was inspired from a similar structure inside an Indian Army camp in Pune.  

"It was installed a few weeks ago. Earlier, when we were not aware of what it was, we used to take another, longer route, to avoid that road. However, there is school right next to it and close to thousand families live in the township. Therefore, it is a good initiative. Plus, there are Amanora officials and guards standing there, if an untoward incident occurs," said Meenakshi Singh, also a resident of the township.

The fate of the tyre busters in the township depends on whether the police decide to grant the permission to it or not.